Chibis!
by neko-jin72
Summary: "Max?What's going on?Why are you so little?" "Me!" Max stared at the neko-jin in disbelief, "You're just as small as I am!" how are the bladebrkrs going to deal with taking care of a mini rei and max? *This story is under construction; Will be back later
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one…

It was just like any other day at the Granger Dojo. Three boys were outside training while another was typing on his laptop furiously as the last one of the group leaned against a tree, his eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest.

"Kai! It's like 100 degrees out here! I'm starving, can't we have some lunch…PLEASE!!" Tyson whined.

Kai didn't even open his eyes when he gave his reply. "We just had a break 45minutes ago, Granger. Lunch is only an hour away, so STOP COMPLAINING! Otherwise, we will just skip lunch and keep training until nightfall."

Tyson stopped in his tracks and stared wide eyed at his Russian Captain. "Keep going Tyson, we are not stopping."

The partner of Dragoon rolled his eyes and continued his laps with the rest of his teammates. "I wanna see him train all day and not be hungry!" he grumbled.

Max stifled a laugh while Rei just smiled and shook his head.

After their training was complete, Rei went to the kitchen to make lunch while the others went into the living room to relax. Kenney was still doing modifications on their blades so they couldn't beyblade until he was finished.

Kai looked around the room at the teens that were his teammates and also becoming his friends. Tyson, the all eating garbage disposal world champion; he was a loud mouth, hot-headed, kid who never thought before he said anything, landing him into trouble a lot of the time. Max; he was the blonde energy ball that was too happy for his own good. Next there was Kenney; the computer wiz. He was a short, easily scared kid who was in love with his laptop, Dizzi. He had brown, mousy hair that covered up his eyes. Last, but most certainly not least, there was Rei. He was the only person on the team that didn't annoy Kai to the point of insanity. Kai looked over to the Chinese boy, who moved around the kitchen with amazing stealth and grace. His raven hair framed his beautiful face perfectly accenting his amber eyes. Rei was always polite, he was gentle, caring, and would help anyone without a second thought.

Kai had always liked other guys and he has had some relationships, but he's never felt like this with anyone else, only Rei. 'Too bad Rei isn't gay, he's practically married to that pink-haired twit, Mariah.' The Russian thought with a little jealousy.

Just then Rei turned around and saw Kai staring at him. 'Kai…if only I could tell you. No! Rei, shut up he can't know, it will ruin everything! He would kick me off the team if he found out, then where would I go?'

Rei thought about the first time that he started liking Kai like that. 'It just started being around him all the time. With him and me sharing a bedroom since he was the Captain and I was the Co-Captain. I always feel safe when I am around him, like nothing will go wrong. He makes me feel like I am finally worth something, like I'm not actually worthless. He always helps me and protects the team…he's a true Captain. Those gorgeous crimson eyes contrasting amazingly with his two-toned blue hair…'

"Earth to Rei! Hey, you in there, Buddy?"

Rei snapped out of his thoughts and saw Tyson standing a little too close in front of him.

"What is it Tyson?"

"I asked you if lunch was ready, but you were spacing out, and wouldn't answer me."

Rei blushed in embarrassment at being caught daydreaming about their Russian beyblader, even if the rest of the team didn't know he was thinking about Kai. The Chinese teenager turned away quickly, pretending to be busy with an invisible spot on the counter.

"Sorry…yeah, it's ready Tyson."

Tyson ran to the table quickly followed by Max and Kenney. The blond stopped and looked at Rei for a minute.

"Are you coming, Rei?"

"…No Max, I…I'm not really hungry. Thanks anyway."

With that said, Rei left the room and started upstairs to his and Kai's room, before anyone else could question him.

Instead of going to the dining room to eat, Kai followed Rei and went into their room. He saw Rei across the room, looking out the window. Going over to the neko-jin, he put a hand on the smaller teenager's shoulder.

"Rei, are you ok?"

Rei's eyes widened and then shut tightly. 'How can I tell you, Kai? I want you to know, so badly that it hurts. I know what you would do if I did tell you…most likely you would glare, tell me that I'm a freak, and kick me out; after punching my lights out, of course…'

The Chinese blader didn't want to lie to Kai, even if he wasn't a horrible liar, which he is, but he had no choice, Kai wasn't going to leave without an answer.

"Nothing! E-everything is just fine…"

"Rei, stop lying…you suck at it."

See! Everyone could tell when he was lying and sometimes it really wasn't a good thing if you ever wanted to get out of something.

"You wouldn't understand, Kai."

"Try me." Kai sounded serious.

"I can't, it's…complicated."

"…And embarrassing." He mumbled to himself but Kai heard as well.

"Rei, you can tell me anything. Whatever 'it' is, I can help you." Kai took a step closer to Rei.

"I'm your captain, and your friend. Rei, I won't judge you."

Rei took a deep breath and let it out slowly, partly to get ready for the biggest mistake of his life that he was going to make and partly to stop himself from attacking Kai right there, the closeness of the Captain was really killing Rei's will of restraint.

"Kai, I-I'm…gay…"

Rei closed his eyes and waited for the expected reaction; a punch to the face, being pushed away, yelling at the very least. When none of those came, he opened one eye and then the other when he saw Kai smiling at him. No, not a smirk like Kai always had, it was a small, genuine smile.

Then he almost wanted to hit Kai when the Russian did the unexpected; he laughed. Getting the wrong idea, Rei thought that the other blader was making fun of him for being gay and he flare up in an instant.

"It's not funny, Kai!"

Hearing Rei's tone of voice made him stop laughing and he looked at the nekojin.

"I know it's not funny Rei, but what did you expect me to do? Hit you, yell at you?"

Rei looked away from Kai.

"I thought you would kick me off the team…" he said softly, half of him hoping that Kai wouldn't hear it, but no such luck.

Crimson eyes turned serious almost instantly. "Rei, I'm not going to kick you off the team because you're gay. Why would you think that?"

"Well, I thought you'd be disgusted and wouldn't be able to stand looking at me."

"Rei, I'm gay too…but even if I wasn't, I would never kick anyone off the team, especially not you. Maybe Tyson though…" he added as an after thought, making Rei laugh.

"Kai, you know as well as I do that we wouldn't be able to stand one of Max's sugar highs without Tyson around."

"Maybe but it's usually Tyson who gives Max the sugar in the first place."

"True" right then Rei's stomach made a very loud gurgling noise, making the nekojin blush and the Russian smirk.

"Hey Kai, do you wanna have some lunch, I'm starving." Kai looked to the younger blader and smiled. "Sure."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hey guys, let's do something, I'm bored!"

Rei looked up from his book at the dragon blader, yawning.

"Tyson, whenever you're not eating you're bored."

Everyone laughed at the joke while Tyson made a face at Rei.

"So what do you wanna do Tyson?" Max asked getting himself under control.

"I dunno…" Tyson said; just then Rei yawned wider, his eyes tearing.

"I'm going to go to bed…"

"Oh, come on Rei! Don't you want to do something fun?"

"Not really Tyson, I feel kind of weird."

Kai looked at Rei seeing that the neko-jin was a little pale. How had the Russian missed it? He thought to himself.

"Are you ok Rei?"

"I'm fine Kai, I think I'm just tired."

"I think I will go to bed too, I feel kind of strange myself." Max said, standing up.

"MAXIE!! Please do something with me, I'm bored!"

"Sorry Ty, but I'm tired…we can do something tomorrow…night everyone."

Max made his way to the stairs, following Rei. Tyson looked to the only person left in the room.

"Heey, Kaaii!" he sang out in a sickening sweet voice. Kai stood up and went to the staircase.

"Forget it Tyson. Go to bed."

"Humph…no one has fun anymore." He grumbled as he slowly made his way to the room he shared with Max and Chief.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kai woke up to the annoying beep of his alarm clock, the red glowing numbers showing that it was 5:15am.

Kai slipped quietly out of the room without waking his roommate. He took a quick shower and was dressed and ready to train by the time the clock read 5:30am.

Kai groaned, hating this part of his morning: waking everyone else up to start training.

'Well', he reasoned, 'it is Tyson that I hate waking up in the morning more than anyone else.'

Kai went across the room to the bed occupied by his Chinese teammate. Bending down slightly, Kai gently nudged its occupant.

"Rei, wake up."

Rei started to shift and slowly turned his position on the bed but Kai still couldn't see him properly.

"K-Kai…?"

"It's already 5:30, you need to get up."

Rei grumbled about waking up at this time, which made Kai smirk…that is until Rei slowly removed the sheets that were covering him and keeping out the cold.

Rei looked up and saw Kai's dumbfounded face.

"Kai? What's wrong…whoa, what's wrong with my voice?"

"Well, Rei…uh, you look…"

"Kai, are you ok?"

Knowing that the Russian teenager was very rarely at a loss for words worried the Chinese neko-jin a bit.

"AAAHHHHH!!!!"

Kai looked to the door just as it burst open, revealing Chief, Tyson, and running along behind them was a blonde mini version of Max.

"Max? What's going on? Why are you so little?"

"Me?!" Max stared at the neko-jin in disbelief, "You're just as small as I am!!"

Rei looked at him skeptically while he got off the bed and started walking towards the mirror by the bathroom door.

"What are you talking about Maxy? I look the same way I always ha-…"

By this time, Rei had reached the mirror and looked in it. He gasped, his eyes widening with what he saw.

He was indeed drastically shorter, but that wasn't all; his hair was to his shoulder blades and his muscles and build had receded. His eyes looked more oval as well.

"What the-…DRIGGER!!!!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade or any of the characters unfortunately…tear

_Previously on Chibis…_

_"Max? What's going on? Why are you so little?"_

_"Me?!" Max stared at the neko-jin in disbelief, "You're just as small as I am!!"_

_By this time, Rei had reached the mirror and looked in it. He gasped, his eyes widening with what he saw._

_He was indeed drastically shorter, but that wasn't all; his hair was to his shoulder blades and his muscles and build had receded. His eyes looked more oval as well._

"_What the- …DRIGGER!!!!"_

Chapter Two…

The tiger bit-chip on Rei's beyblade glowed bright green and in a second the light was replaced by the white tiger spirit.

//:_ What's wrong Cub? Why did you summon-…­_://

The great tiger looked down at his master and realized why he had been called so suddenly. He looked around at the bladers and his eyes found Max. Sighing, Drigger turned to the group once more.

//:_ Please, everyone, call out your bit-beasts._://

After a moment, every Bit-beasts was there and accounted for.

Draciel was the first to speak.

//: _Now look at what you have done, Dragoon, this is your entire fault!_://

Dragoon looked up at the turtle spirit.

//:_ Me?! I didn't do anything!_://

//:_ Well, what was that conversation last night about then? You all of a sudden brought up that random subject!_:// Drigger angrily stated, in which Draciel nodded furiously in agreement.

Dranzer stepped into the fight to break it up before it really got dangerous.

//:_ All of you need to stop it; this isn't helping anything. You're just scaring the Little Ones._://

The three male spirits looked down to their masters and found the children sized ones cowering in a chair that the two of them had shared. They apologized and backed off not wanting to complicate the matter further.

Kai stepped forward, reaching his phoenix bit-beast. "Dranzer, what are they talking about? What did Dragoon do?" Dranzer looked at her master and then the two chibis and then started to explain everything.

//: _Well, last night while the four of us were discussing things, Dragoon started this conversation about Rei and Max turning into…children again._://

Kai turned to the dragon spirit with a curious glance. "Why?"

Dranzer answered for the Dragon Spirit. //:_ He thought that it would help Tyson to get more responsible and start acting like a teenager if he had to take care of someone other than himself._ ://

"Oh. How are we going to fix this?" Kai was starting to get very irritated by this whole situation. They had more important things to worry about without two little kids running around causing trouble. 'Well, at least its Rei and Max and not Tyson who is the child…that would be terrible.' Kai reasoned with himself. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard his bit beast speak again.

//:_ That is the problem, Master Kai; we don't know how to reverse the process. We don't even know if it is temporary or permanent, I'm afraid._ ://

"Great…Rei, stop it." Everyone turned to look at the tiny neko-jin, who stopped trying to grab Drigger's tail. The ebony haired child pouted for a moment then went to Kai and climbed onto the Russian's lap, getting comfortable. Kai looked down at the neko, his eyebrows raised.

Rei smiled cutely as his eyes slowly started shutting. His tiny mouth made a yawn that made his fangs show. "You're soft Kai…" He said drowsily before curling up and falling asleep against the Russian teammate.

Drigger looked down at his now child sized master and then glanced at Kai. //:_ Make sure he is safe._:// Kai never broke eye contact in answering the tiger spirit. "I will."

Draciel looked over at Tyson who was holding onto Max, because he had fallen asleep on the blunette when Dranzer started explaining everything. //:_ Take care of him._:// Tyson nodded and smiled. "No problem."

Before leaving Dranzer gave the two teenagers one last piece of advice. //: _You two will have a hard time at first but it will get better, good luck._://

Dragoon gave a wave //:_ Have fun! _://

And with that said all four of the spirits left in flashes of light.

Tyson looked over to Kai who was still looking at Rei. "What should we do now? It's not like we can train." Kai turned his crimson gaze towards Tyson. "Why not." He stated more than questioned. "C'mon Kai! They are like 3 years old!" Tyson nodded over to Rei's sleeping body. "How do you expect them to train with us? It's too hard, they can't train!" Tyson said in a huff, glaring at the Captain.

"No, they can't train, but it doesn't mean that we can't either. It's already after 6, we're late."

Tyson sighed. "So…what should we do with these two?"

"What else can we do, put them back in bed."

Kai got up with Rei cradled in his arms and walked into his and Rei's room, Tyson following with Max. Kai put Rei down on his bed.

"Just put Max with Rei, we are late enough as it is."

Tyson did as he was told and followed Kai outside for some training.

Two hours later, golden orbs opened slowly as tiny pointed ears could hear shouting out side of the house. Walking outside, he saw Tyson and Kai yelling across the yard at one another and he went to them.

"Kai? Tyson?" He asked quietly in a small voice. Kai looked down and saw Rei holding onto his too big of a shirt. Tyson bent down and picked up the tiny neko.

"Hey, little man…why are you up so early?" Rei looked at him drowsily and rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

"You guys are loud…I heard you two yelling at each other. What's wrong?"

"Oh. Sorry about that Rei, nothing really just Mr. Sourpuss wants to do more training than usual, that's all."

Rei's eyes lit up and he wriggled out of Tyson's hold and went up to Kai.

"I wanna train too, please Kai?" Kai looked at the eager little face and he smiled, "Are you sure, Rei? You can go back to bed if you want." Rei shook his head making his little ponytail of shorter hair fly around wildly. "No, I wanna train with you guys!" he excitedly explained, waiting for his Captain's decision.

Tyson on the other hand, turned to Kai shocked. "What?! Why would Rei get to go back to bed when he wants to train, but I want to go back to bed yet I have to train?!"

Kai turned to him, irritated. "Because it's like you said this morning Tyson, Rei and Max are little kids." Tyson put a hand behind his head and laughed slightly. "Oh, yea…I forgot." Kai rolled his eyes at the blunette's stupidity.

"Uh, by the way Rei, do you know how old you are?" Tyson asked the little boy. Rei crossed his arms and tried to look tough. "Of course, I know…I will be 6 in 2 months." He said proudly.

Looking down, Kai noticed that Rei was still in that big shirt. "Rei, if you are going to train, you have to change." Tyson agreed and turned to the little blushing neko-jin. "Rei, go see if Grandpa has any kid clothes left for you and Max from when me and my brother were little."

Rei smiled and nodded. "I'll be right back!" he said, running back into the house.

"Since Rei's going to be turning 6, that means Max is 5 too, right?"

"Yea." Kai answered him.

They waited for about five more minutes wondering where he was until they heard a yell followed by a loud crash. The two teens looked at each other before sprinting into the house looking for the cause of the noise. They stopped at Kai and Rei's room and stepped into the room looking at the poor sight before them.

Rei was on the floor beside the chest of drawers holding his head with tears of pain in his eyes. Kai went to the teary toddler, picked him up and walked to the bed and sat down. He inspected Rei's head and found a little bump forming.

"Rei, what happened?" Kai asked softly. Rei looked up at him and sniffled a reply. "I w-was g-g-getting ready to t-train…and I ne-needed my brush…but I couldn't r-reach it so I climbed onto the ch-chest and I got i-it…but I t-tr-tripped and fell…"

"I thought cats always landed on their feet." Tyson joked trying to cheer the chibi up but failed miserably. Rei thought Tyson was making fun of him so he did what every five year old would do in this mess. He buried his face into Kai's chest and cried, hard. Kai held the child neko-jin and rubbed soothing circles on his back, trying to calm him down, all the while giving Tyson a death glare.

"Tyson! Wait for me in the other room!" he hissed.

Tyson left the room just as Max was waking up. He saw Rei crying and crawled over to him. "Rei? Are you ok?" getting no other reply except for tiny, muffled sobs, Max turned to Kai for answers. Kai nodded to the little blonde. "He's alright Max. Could you go into the living room and make sure Tyson waits for me?" Max beamed and ran to the bedroom door. "I will make sure he stays Kai!" In a minute after Max left, Rei started to calm down. "Rei, look at me." The little five year old slowly looked up and met Kai's soft glance with watery eyes and tear streaks. Kai wiped away the remaining tears off the neko's face.

"Does your head hurt?"

"Its a-alright K-K-Kai…but…why d-did Ty-Tyson laugh at m-me?"

Kai looked at him sympathetically. He guessed that when Rei turned into a child he lost some understanding of why people acted some ways that they do. He figured Rei didn't know that Tyson was trying to make the boy feel better.

"Rei, Tyson wasn't laughing at you. He thought the joke would make you feel better." Rei just glared at his feet. "Well, it d-didn't…it made m-me feel b-bad…"

"I know, but Tyson was just trying to make you laugh. That's Tyson's way of trying to cheer someone up. Tell you what, after I'm done talking with him, how about you and me go for a run." Rei's eyes lit up.

"Just y-you and m-me? Do you me-mean it?" Rei's eyes looked up at him hopefully; Kai smiled a true smile. "Every word. From now on, if you can't get something Rei, just ask someone, ok?" Rei gave Kai a watery grin. "O-Ok Kai got it!"

"Good, now I'm going to talk to Tyson and then we can go." Kai said and put the neko-jin on the bed and headed for the door. He opened the door and glanced back at Rei. "Be good."

He found Tyson in the living room with Max sitting on the couch, watching TV. "Hey Max, Rei is in his room if you want to go see him." Kai stated simply knowing that Max wanted to know how the little neko was doing. Before anyone could say anything else, Max ran out of the room and up the stairs.

"Cheap trick…is Rei ok?"

Kai leaned against the wall and looked at the wielder of Dragoon before replying. "He'll be fine…he thought that you were making fun of him." Tyson was up and heading towards the stairs until Kai stopped him. "Kai, I need to go see what is going on in his head…why would he think that? I would never laugh at him!"

"Well, what would you do if you were five years old and thought one of your friends was laughing at you because you fell and got hurt?" Kai interrupted Tyson's rampage, steering him back to the couch and pushing him to sit down.

"Is that why he cried? Usually Rei would say something back or just laugh about it…"

Kai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "That's right Tyson, usually. You have to remember that we aren't dealing with the Rei and Max that we are use to anymore. Right now we're dealing with little kids. Max and Rei aren't themselves. Hell, their minds probably think like kids too which means that they may not understand things that are normal for us."

"Yeah…hey! That is the most you have ever said to me in one day! Haha…Rei has you getting soft."

"Watch it Tyson, I control how much you run." Kai said smirking at how quickly that simple comment had taken the color right out of Tyson's face.

"Man, I better make it up to the kid…I could take both of them somewhere, maybe the park."

Kai got off the wall he was leaning on and started towards the stairs. "You can do that later. Keep Max occupied for a couple of hours."

"Why?"

Kai stopped and turned to look at the blunette. "I'm taking our little neko-jin for a run." And started his walk to his room.

Kai stopped right at his door when he heard laughter and thumping emanating from his door. Quirking an eyebrow he entered the room to find two little boys laughing while jumping from one bed to the other bed that was in the room. Rei had just landed and was getting ready to jump over again when he saw the figure by the door. "Kai!"

Max was in the middle of jumping to the next bed when he heard the name Rei had squeaked out. Not being able to stop himself or complete his jump, he landed painfully hard on the floor, right on his rear. Rei looked over the bed at his friend, eyes filled with worry. "Are you ok, Maxy?"

Max smiled at his friend's concern and smiled to reassure the neko. "I'll be fine." Said Max, still rubbing his sore spot.

"What is it with little kids falling off of things?" Kai mused aloud.

Rei and Max crossed their arms in defense, trying to act older. "That's not funny Kai!" they both said at the same time, then looked at each other and smirked before glaring at Kai once more.

Just then Tyson walked in and saw the glare shared by the two boys and laughed. "Glad I'm not you right now Kai!"

Still laughing, Tyson turned to the blonde. "Hey, Maxy, wanna go get some ice cream?" Max ran up to Tyson. "YEAH!!" Max yelled and ran out the door and the three remaining boys could hear the hyper child all the way downstairs.

Kai looked over to Rei and saw the hurt and sadness in the golden orbs then be quickly replaced by a longing look. "Tyson, you dolt, you just made Rei feel left out."

"Hey Rei, are you ready for our run?"

Rei's reaction was priceless. His eyes turned bright and his face lit up. Quickly he got off his bed and ran towards Kai, accidentally running into him, not being able to stop quick enough. He latched onto the Russian's arm and tried to pull the teenager to the door with all his weight, which for him being so small, even for a child wasn't very effective.

"Come on Kai!! I can't wait! Let's gooo!!"

"Well, I better go get Max before he throws himself off the roof…" Tyson said, laughing to himself as he walked out of the room. Rei was still trying unsuccessfully to pull Kai out of the room. Kai smiled at the attempts made by the tiny neko-jin. "Alright Rei. Let's go."

TBC 

**A/N: sorry for taking so long. Just got a day off of work so I decided to update my story. Please review and tell me if you like it. Constructive Criticism is much appreciated! Later Days!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any parts of Wal-Mart, Cookie Crisp, Beyblade or any of its characters…

_Last time on Chibis…_

"_How about you and me go for a run." Rei's eyes lit up._

"_Just y-you and m-me? Do you me-mean it?" Rei's eyes looked up at him hopefully; Kai smiled a true smile. "Every word."_

_Rei was still trying unsuccessfully to pull Kai out of the room. Kai smiled at the attempts made by the tiny neko-jin. "Alright Rei. Let's go."_

Chapter 3…

After their run, they stopped at a restaurant in town for lunch. Rei was still breathing hard when the meal arrived. His eyes radiated with delight.

"FOOD!!" He exclaimed happily as he shoved half of a chicken tender, rice, and an egg roll into his mouth choking it down with his tea.

"Whoa, slow down Rei, you're eating like Tyson." Rei swallowed the huge amount of food in his little mouth before talking. "Sorry, Kai. I'm just really hungry." He explained, taking another big bite of the chicken.

"Why are you so hungry? Didn't you eat anything before we left?" Rei's silence was all Kai needed to know. "Rei. Answer the question." Rei kept his gaze on his plate, not wanting to see the look on Kai's face. "No."

"Rei…"

"I forgot to…I was going to eat something before training-but then I fell…Honest!" Rei said defensively as he looked up at Kai and saw the skeptical look that he was receiving from his captain.

Kai sighed, and motioned the waitress for the check. "Rei, I have to go get some groceries. Do you want to go back to the Dojo?" The Chinese child looked up at the Russian with pleading eyes. "Can I come with you Kai? Please!!" Rei asked as he gave Kai his 'kitty eyes'. He knew that the slate haired blader couldn't say no to them, very few could.

'There are those damn kitty eyes again. I swear he does it every time he wants something and I can't say no…' "Fine, you can come, finish your lunch first." Rei gladly agreed and twenty minutes later they were outside of Wal-Mart.

"Ok Rei, listen. We are here to get food, shampoo, and other things we _need._ We don't need movies, cds, games, and most of all…_toys_." Kai added the last part when he thought Rei was thinking of a way to get around the rules. When he saw Rei's face drop, he knew he'd been right.

They were in Wal-Mart for not even 10 minutes and already, Kai wanted to get out of the store. 'Shopping with Rei is a lot more irritating when he is a kid.' Kai thought to himself, as Rei was running back to him, arms full of candy.

"Kai, can we get these? We need them, please!"

" No, Rei, go put them back were you found them."

Rei looked put out for a second and then ran back putting away the rejected items. Not even two minutes later, Rei was back, his arms full of cookies, sodas, and Cookie Crisp cereal; it was like shopping with Tyson.

"How about these? I know that we need these!"

"Rei, why do you need those?"

Rei thought for a moment before his face grew a mischievous grin. "Well Kai, you did say that we needed food!"

'Clever Kitten, very clever' Kai smirked and before Rei could do anything, Kai picked him up and put the neko-jin into the cart.

"Stay in there and don't move."

"But-"

"No 'buts' Rei, if you don't stay, I'll leave you with Tyson next time."

With that threat said Rei sat back and pouted while Kai started to shop again, and didn't stop pouting until he realized that Kai wasn't going to give in to his tantrum. They were almost finished, Kai only needed to get a few more items, when Rei spotted the display stand with bit beast plushies on it; all of the stuffed animals, different. They had gone by it a few times and each time Kai would notice how Rei would almost be in a trance-like state; not moving or asking about things that they didn't need.

Going by this time was no different; Rei was in his trance, looking at what Kai realized to be a tiger plushie, looking very similar to Drigger. Turning into another aisle, Kai noticed how Rei craned his neck in an almost impossible way to try and get another peak at the display of fluff.

Deciding that child Rei had been good enough, definitely better than Tyson or Max would have been, (other than having to be put in the cart) Kai thought he should be rewarded. Picking Rei up from the cart bed and putting him on the floor, Kai took Rei's little hand and made him hold onto the cart. Rei watched him curiously.

"Rei, I'll be right back, stay with the cart."

Rei's eyes widened as fear of being in such a big place alone was overtaking his senses, making him want to latch onto Kai and never let go. Seeing the terror in the child's eyes made Kai stop in his retreat.

"Rei, I promise I'll be back in less than two minutes. Really, you have my word."

Kai could see Rei relax slightly as he said this, but some fear remained in the golden orbs. Not wanting Rei to panic and knowing that it was really bad to leave a kid alone by a cart with strangers walking around, Kai hurried to the display, grabbed what he wanted and made his way back to the aisle he was in, in a minute. With the prize safely tucked away behind his back, Kai looked around not finding the neko-jin.

"Rei?"

"I'm here Kai."

Kai turned to see small golden orbs crouched behind the cart, hiding by the wall.

"You can come out now, I have something for you."

Eyes full of curiosity, Rei stepped closer to Kai and tilted his head in wonder.

"What is it?"

"Here." Thrusting the toy out for the boy to grab, Kai watched as Rei's face lit up first with confusion, then transformed into realization, finally showing fascination.

"Kai? I can have this?"

"Yea, think of it as a gift for being good today."

"Thanks a lot Kai! I love it!!" Rei looked down suddenly and shifted on his feet.

"Uh-can Max get one too Kai? I mean, he's probably been good too…"

Rei didn't want Max to feel left out if Rei got something and he didn't. "Sure." Kai said, knowing what Rei was thinking as if he was reading the little neko's mind.

They finished shopping and were on their way home, Rei holding both his tiger plushie and Max's turtle plushie, when Kai's cell phone started to ring.

"Hello?"

"_Aww, you sound so happy."_

"What do you want, Ivanov?"

"_Are you alone Kai?"_

"I'm with Rei."

"_I need to talk to you- but in private. Can you meet me by the river in one hour?"_

"Yeah, by the river in one hour."

Kai hung up and kept walking to the dojo as if nothing happened.

"What did Tala want Kai?"

The Russian turned around and saw the curiosity on the neko's face. He smiled at Rei then turned around and kept walking.

'Why didn't he answer? Something's gotta be up…but what?'

When they arrived at the Dojo they saw Tyson and Max running around the yard. It looked like they were playing a game; and Max was winning. Tyson stopped running and turned as he saw Kai and Rei walking up to the yard, Max coming over as well.

"Here Max, this is for you." Rei showed the purple and black turtle to the blonde watching as Max's face lit up with joy.

"Thanks Rei! This is awesome!"

Both Tyson and Kai smiled at the exchange between the two boys before Tyson turned to Kai.

"Gramps made supper for us. He didn't want Rei cooking."

Rei looked confused for a second. "Why not? I always cook."

It was Kai who answered. "Because you are too young. I completely agree." Rei looked as if he had just been slapped.

"Too young?! I'm just as capable as you, Kai, and more capable than Tyson- err, no offense Tyson." The blunette just shrugged.

"Look Rei, you're not cooking or using the stove anymore, clear? What if something happened- you wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it. You couldn't even reach the phone. Now, let's go in and eat."

"Fine…" Rei grumbled.

After supper… 

"Tyson, watch Rei and Max. I need to go. I'll be back in a couple of hours."

Tyson waved an affirmative and Kai left. "Hey, do you know what that was about?" Max whispered to Rei.

"I dunno, when we were coming back to the house, Kai got a call from Tala. He's meeting up with him by the river." Rei whispered back, trying to remember all of Kai's phone conversation that he had heard. "Why does he wanna meet up with Tala?"

Rei shrugged. "When I asked him about it, he didn't answer and ignored me." Rei felt a little sad that Kai had ignored him and kept walking…usually Kai would tell him most things, rarely giving him the cold shoulder.

Max started to eat again, oblivious to his neighbor's curiosity. Rei had to find out what was going on. He turned to the blonde. "Max, keep Tyson busy, will ya? I wanna find out what's going on with Kai…" Rei started to sneak down the chair when Max stopped him.

"No way- I'm coming with you." The little blonde said determinedly.

"We can't both go…how will we get past Tyson?"

"Easy, watch."

He 'yawned' and turned, droopy-eyed to Tyson. "Ty, I'm tired so I'm going to go to bed." Rei got the hint and 'yawned' too. "Me too, Tyson, I'm beat. G'night…"

Tyson looked up from his meal and looked at them. Nodding, he turned to his food and started inhaling it once again. The duo went upstairs to their rooms to 'sleep', but when they got there, they both climbed out their windows to the yard below.

"Okay, let's go."

"Rei, shouldn't we put something in our beds to fool Tyson if he checks?"

"We don't have time, Max! We're wasting time right now, we have to go!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade or any of its characters

**A/N: **Thanks everyone who reviewed my story…much appreciated!! In some parts of the story there might be some OOCness.

* * *

Previously on Chibis… 

"_When we were coming back to the house, Kai got a call from Tala. He's meeting up with him by the river."_

"_Why does he wanna meet up with Tala?"_

"_Max, keep Tyson busy, will ya? I wanna find out what's going on with Kai…"_

"_No way- I'm coming with you."_

…

"Rei, shouldn't we put something in our beds to fool Tyson if he checks?" 

"_We don't have time, Max! We're wasting time right now, we have to go!"_

Chapter 4…

Once they were by the river they saw Kai talking with the red headed Russian casually. They moved close enough to hear what they were saying, but far enough away not to be caught.

"Why did you want to see me, Ivanov?"

"Common courtesy is lost on you, I'm afraid…where's the 'oh hello, Tala, good to see you again?'" Tala said in a mock hurt voice. Kai gave him a pointed look.

"Fine…do you know what Biovolt has been up to recently?"

"Well seeing as how I don't particularly like to deal with my Grandfather or Boris, I would have to say no I don't know. Why? Why do you care?" Kai asked defensively. He always was guarded when it came to matters of Voltaire Hiwatari.

"It's just that, we don't know either and it's making us kinda nervous. I think that they are up to something."

"You said 'we'…are the rest of _the Boyz_ here too?"

"Yep. Me, Bryan, Spencer, and Ian are all here."

**Meanwhile with the kids…**

"Biovolt? Why would they be up to something? Isn't Boris in jail?" Max asked, a slight tremble in his voice.

"I thought so…he musta broke out. I dunno-"

"Well, well, well, look what we've got here…interesting."

Both Max and Rei whirled around at the sound of the unfamiliar, yet familiar voice, coming face to face with the remaining members of the Blitzkrieg Boyz. Rei tried to be calm; the last time they saw the other Russians, he had ended up at the hospital in Moscow. Max wasn't fairing too much better, considering he was looking for an escape route that Rei and him could take.

"Uh, h-hey guys…w-what are you d-doing here…?" Max stuttered out trying to distract them. Bryan smiled which caused Rei to flinch, but the others didn't notice the gesture besides the falcon himself.

"That's what we should be asking you pipsqueak!" Ian tried to look menacingly at the two kids. It would have worked too, if he had been a little taller than them. "You got no business spying on my Captain, or the Bladebreakers' Captain, either!" He said angrily, as if he didn't know who the two were.

"Ian, do you even know who these 'kids' are?" Spencer asked both Max's and Rei's unasked question.

"No…Should I?" Ian was at a loss, they did look familiar, but he was positive he hadn't talked to any little kids lately.

"They are Max and Rei, from the Bladebreakers team." Spencer said incredulously. It wasn't really that hard to figure it out, at least, that's what Bryan and he thought.

"Oh-OH! Whoa! What happened to you guys?"

"Well, we do-don't actually know…" Rei said in a small voice, looking everywhere but at Bryan- he was still a little nervous around him.

Max cut in at this point. "Yea, well, we were just out on a walk so, uh, bye!" Max grabbed Re's arm and they both started to run in the opposite direction when they heard Bryan's sharp voice.

"Not so fast, Spencer!"

Before they could get very far, a giant hand gripped both of their shirt collars tightly and effectively put the two little boys high into the air.

**Back to the two Russians…**

"So, how are Tyson and the _others_?" Tala asked with a smirk, he knew about Kai's feelings for Rei, as did the other Russians.

"They're fine…" Kai gritted out, slightly irritated. "Where is the rest of your team?"

"Right here, and look what we found."

Kai turned around and saw two terrified faces. Max looked guilty and scared while Rei looked frantic as well. Kai realized at once why they were scared; they didn't know the Russian bladers like he did. They always had thought that the Russians were monsters because of how they acted at the tournament.

"Spencer, put them down." Kai requested.

The tall blonde did as he was asked and in a flash, the two chibis went from being by the three of the Russians to hiding behind Kai.

"Aww, how cute! Kai why didn't you tell me that Rei and Max had little brothers? They look just like them!" Tala exclaimed. Kai looked at the redhead dumbfounded. 'Doesn't he know that they are Max and Rei?'

"They **ARE** Max and Rei…" Kai watched as the expressions changed on Tala's face: surprise, shock, realization, and shock. 'Nope, guess he didn't know.'

"How did they turn into little kids?" Tala asked.

"I don't know."

He looked down at the scared kids. Max seemed to calm down a bit, but Rei was as panicked as ever. He looked like he was either going to faint or run away. "Why are you two here? I left you with Tyson…" 'That dolt can't do anything right…'

"Well we just wanted to go for a walk. That's all Kai…" Max answered quickly.

"So why did you two come out here? It's way too far from the dojo…especially this time of night for two kids."

"Well, we just wanted some fresh air…"

"Rei?"

Kai turned to him knowing that if Rei tried to lie, he would know about it. Rei couldn't lie to him; hell…he couldn't lie to anybody because no matter what he did, Rei was always a terrible liar. "Um, w-well…like M-Max said, we…uh, we wanted f-fresh air…" See, he was a terrible liar. "Tell the truth, Rei." Kai said with a warning voice.

Rei seemed shocked at first but then he looked at his shoes in defeat. "We just wanted to see what you were doing."

"Rei come here…Tala, watch Max."

"Sure thing."

Kai walked to the street with Rei following. They stopped when they reached the bridge, out of earshot, Kai turned to Rei.

"Why did you want to know what I was doing?" Kai reprimanded himself when his question came out a little too cold; Rei was really upset. He looked like he was about to cry.

"I don't know…I was curious."

"Why are you always so curious. It's not really any of your business."

Kai meant to say that more to himself, but Rei's tiny, pointed ears caught it and he thought Kai was mad at him.

"I-I'm sorry…"

"Why are you so scared of Tala and the others? Is it Bryan, you shouldn't be scared…"

It was a simple statement but Rei was already upset and what Kai said felt like a personal attack on him. He couldn't take anymore of the accusations and the disappointment from Kai was hard on the child.

"I DON'T KNOW, OK?!"

Rei yelled with tears in his eyes but he made sure none would fall in front of Kai. Turning on his heel, Rei ran as fast as his legs would carry him away from the rest of the group, ignoring Kai's calls to him.

Kai sighed and walked back to the four Russians and Max, looking up to see their confused faces.

"What was that about?" Bryan asked.

"He just needed to cool off a bit…He's still a little nervous around you guys and being a little kid doesn't help the problem much either."

"Oh…" Bryan said sadly as he looked in the direction Rei ran off to with a regretful look in his eye. He was still feeling very guilty about what had taken place in Russia during their match. He didn't like to see Rei hurt and especially being the one that hurt Rei, but he and the other Blitzkrieg Boyz didn't really have much of a choice of their preference to beyblading, seeing as how Boris had made it painfully clear what he wanted as the results for the tournament. Now he just wanted to show Rei that he wasn't like the Bryan Rei had met and fought against at the tournament. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned his head to see Kai.

"He'll come back later, he just needs some time to calm down and sort things out." Kai said trying to lift some of the burden and guilt off of his friend's shoulders that he knew Bryan kept thinking about.

"Yeah…OK."

Kai turned to the others as he put his hands on the little blonde's shoulders.

"Well, I better take Max back before Tyson realizes both of them are gone…Do you guys wanna come over for a while?" Tala looked up into the phoenix's crimson orbs. "Sure."

**XXX Rei XXX**

Rei had finally stopped running when he got to the park that had couples going home and children getting called back to their families. He started over to the jungle gym and sat on the roof of the slide watching some older kids playing kickball in the small field below.

'Bryan isn't a bad guy, I know that…It's just that being around him still gives me the creeps because my mind always goes to the day of my match with him. I can see that he has changed, he's not mean, and I mean, come on Kai wouldn't be a friend with him if he were. But- Bryan wasn't facing Kai in the battle arena in Moscow; he was facing me…would he have done the same thing to Kai?'

_**'Maybe he didn't have a choice…Boris' said a voice that was deep inside of his mind.**_

'_Boris! He's a monster...maybe that's why Bryan fought with me like that…I mean, Tala was really mean at the tournament too, and now look at him- now that Boris is out of the picture, he's one of the nicest people that I know…one of the funniest too.'_ He thought with a small smile, then his mouth quickly reverting to a frown once again. _'Did I overreact?'_

Rei put his face into his hands and sighed too deeply for a boy of five years old. _'Bryan probably hates me now…I'd hate it if someone was scared of me thinking that I was a monster. I've got to apologize to him.'_

Looking around him, Rei saw that most of the people had already left the park as the sun was setting with beautiful colors reflecting off the jungle gym metal bars. _'It's really late, I better get going.' _Rei was just starting to get up and leave when a tough looking kid got into his face.

"Hey, you. What are you doing on my slide…?" Rei looked up and quickly stifled the laugh that was threatening to erupt from his throat. The kid looked to be about 9 years old and he had on dark jeans and a black skull shirt on underneath a denim jacket. He had a black bandana tied around his head with sunglasses on, even though the sun was almost gone from the sky. Unfortunately, the kid caught Rei's laugh

"What's so funny? Do you know who I am?"

"No, I don't know who you are…sorry, but I have to go now."

"Where do you think you're goin'…? You haven't answered my question: What do you think you're doing on my slide?"

This kid was really starting to set Rei off…not only did he have to deal with his thoughts about Bryan, then he got into a fight with Kai, now this kid…today was turning up to be one lousy day.

"Me? I'm going home and this," he pointed to his position on the slides top/roof. "Isn't your slide, it is here for anyone to use."

Rei got down to the ground and turned to walk away but felt a hand on his shoulder preventing him to leave.

"You're not going anywhere, Midget." The bigger boy stated darkly.

"Yes, I am, Fat Boy."

A growl was heard and the hand that was positioned on Rei's shoulder tightened its grip on him, swinging the neko around. Still in motion from the spin, Rei saw the boy right before a hard fist made an impact with his face and the tiny neko-jin fell to the ground.

**

* * *

A/N:** There, chapter 4 completed! I hope you like it! I will try to get chapter 5 up sometime this week, but with work going on I can't make any promises. Remember to review please! Later Dayz!! 


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **So sorry about this being so late, my bastard of a stepfather took away my keyboard and mouse and hasn't given it back yet…(right now I am using my sister's while she is at work) hopefully I will get them back soon and be able to update faster. Again, sorry for the inconvenience…

Also, thanks everyone who reviewed my story…much appreciated! In some parts of the story there might be some OOCness.

**Disclaimer:** as always I don't own beyblade…(will it ever change? —Probably not…)

* * *

_Previously on Chibis!…_

_"You're not going anywhere, Midget." The bigger boy stated darkly._

_"Yes, I am, Fat Boy." _

_A growl was heard and the hand that was positioned on Rei's shoulder tightened its grip on him, swinging the neko around. Still in motion from the spin, Rei saw the boy right before a hard fist made an impact with his face and the tiny neko-jin fell to the ground._

**Chapter 5…**

"Kai, shouldn't Rei be back by now? It's getting pretty dark…"

"Well Tyson, if you hadn't let them leave, he wouldn't even be out there."

Kai was irritated. He was starting to get worried about the little neko, too. 'he should be here by now. He knows to come back when it gets dark. Why isn't e here? – he can't still be mad at me…it was two hours ago and we didn't even really argue…'

"I wonder where he is, Kai we should really go look for him." Tala stated and everyone in the room nodded in agreement.

"OK. Tala, you and Bryan go to the west side of town, Tyson, you and Max take the north side, Spence, you and Ian check the south side and I'll take the east. Call me if you find him."

"Right." Everyone agreed and dispersed.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

"You had enough yet, Midget?" The kid was breathing hard, standing above Rei smirking, until Rei gave his answer. "No…way, Fat boy."

"I told you not to call me that!" 

Rei was starting to get up from his spot on the ground when a foot connected with his jaw, making flipping him back into the air, skidding on his stomach to a halt on the ground. He felt something warm run up his throat and tasted a copper/metallic liquid in his mouth. 'Blood' he thought as he coughed up the red liquid that was burning up his sore throat and ran out of his mouth, down his lips. His jaw killed and he felt one of his little teeth wriggling slightly.

At first, Rei and the bigger kid had had a pretty fair fight until the kid tripped Rei and before he could move, the kid slammed down on his chest with his large boot, knocking the wind out of the tiny neko. Now he was winded and exhausted. Not to mention that he kept opening his mouth when he should really keep it shut. 

"That all you got Midget?"

Before Rei could reply, he felt himself lifted into the air.

**XXXXXXXX**

"Rei! —Rei, can you hear me? Rei!" Tala turned to his lover walking beside him. "Where do you think he is Bryan? Do you think he's ok?"

"I dunno Tal. We just have to look and hope someone finds him soon, it's getting darker…"

"Yea… -hey, there he is!" 

Bryan looked to where Tala was going and sure enough, there was Rei, hanging in the air limply, held by a bigger kid.

"Hey! Let him go!" Tala shouted, enraged when he saw the condition of Rei, all beaten, scratches and cuts dripping blood. 

"Make me." The kid said, not seeing Bryan creep up behind him.

"Sure…no problem." Bryan said, harshly grabbing the now smaller form in front of him.

"Put him down. Now." Bryan snarled, his voice deadly with venom in every word. The kid looked scared shitless.

"Hey, no problem man!" He dropped Rei, who fell in a crumpled heap on the cool, hard ground, as the kid tried to escape the Russians. Bryan had other plans for the bully. Quickly catching up to him, Bryan started making fine work with him as Tala went to check on Rei. Coming back a few moments later, Bryan had a smile on his face while he rubbed his knuckles.

The two older guys looked at each other with amusement until they heard the little neko-jin groan. Tala crouched down beside him, putting his hand down gently on the chibi's small back. 

"Hey, you ok, Kitty?" 

"Ugh, yea…I hate when…you call me, that…" Tala smiled at the ebony haired child.

"I know Kitty, that's why I do it." The two Russians laughed when he heard Rei groan again.

"Tala, call Kai and tell him we got the Kitten."

"Sure thing, Bry." 

The lilac haired teen went over to Rei and scooped him up, surprised when Rei didn't resist and how incredibly light he was, even for a little kid. Rei looked up at Bryan and sorrow filled his eyes, that couldn't help get the attention of Bryan

"Bryan, do you…hate me?"

Bryan looked at him shocked.

"No way Rei…why would you think that?"

Rei was happy with the answer but he had to make sure. "Well, when I gout you, I…thought of you as a monster, but now I see you like…this and I figured that what you did at the tournament…you must have done for…a reason. So I thought that…you hated me, because I judged you…without even getting to know you, I'm sorry…" His eyes were welling up and he was getting worked up making it more difficult for the worn child to breathe easily.

Bryan looked at the Chinese boy incredulously; here he was, the one who put Rei into the hospital after their match and Rei was apologizing for it!

"Calm down Rei, I should be apologizing to you, not the other way around. – I'm sorry for hurting you in Russia, and for making you think that I hated you…I don't. Boris was forcing everyone on the team to be brutal or else he promised to hurt the people we cared about. It was just really bad luck that we got matched together."

Rei smiled and then yawned. "I'm glad…we're friends Bryan. I'm (yawn) tired…" The little chibi said with drooping eyes, straining to stay awake. 

"Go to sleep, you need it Rei." Bryan smirked at Rei's third yawn and turned to Tala. "Are you gonna call Kai?" Tala, who was watching Bryan and Rei, laughed.

"Oh, yea."

Bryan rolled his eyes as Tala made the call. 

"_Did you find him?"_

'Caller ID' Tala thought with a smirk. "Yea, we found him Kai?"

"_Where are you guys? Is he OK? Let me talk to him."_

"We're at the park, he's scratched up but he'll be fine."

"_Scratched up? What happened? Tala let me talk to him."_

"Well, he's tired. But I promise to fill you in when we get back to Tyson. See ya."

Without another thought, Tala hung up knowing Kai was gonna be pissed, but while they were walking, Rei fell asleep and Tala didn't want to wake him up.

"I'll call the Spencer to meet us back up at Tyson's house."

**XXXXXXXX**

When Bryan and Tala got to the Dojo with Rei, everyone was already there, waiting. They came into the living room and saw Max asleep on Tyson who was on the couch watching TV while Kai was looking out the window. Tala cleared his throat loudly and everyone looked up. 

"Rei! Hey, is he ok?" Max asked, after he had woken up when Tyson got up from his seat.

"Yea. He'll be fine Max, where are Spencer and Ian?" Tala asked.

"They went back to the hotel, said they'd come back tomorrow." Tyson explained.

Kai came and looked Rei over. Seeing no serious injuries, he turned to the other two Russians. "What happened?" he growled out.

Tala decided to explain. "Well, he got into a fight with a bigger kid, but Bryan and I stepped in." 

"It seems like it was a pretty fair fight for a while, because the other kid was bruised up too, but something must've happened before we got there, because the bigger kid had Rei in the air and the Kitty didn't even fight back, I think he was too tired." Bryan finished.

"I'll put him in bed." Kai said and took Rei from Bryan.

"Hey Kai, Bryan and I are gonna leave, but let's go hang out tomorrow. We'd like to catch up, meet us at C4 at about 10AM ok?" 

"Alright." Kai left the room with Rei in his arms and went upstairs. When he got into their room, he quickly got Rei dressed and put the little neko in bed. He was about to leave when he heard Rei groan and move around slightly. Kai turned around and saw him trying to get up.

"Kai…? Wh…AH!" Rei was halfway up when a sharp jolt of pain ran up his side. Kai was next to Rei in and instant after he heard him yell in pain.

"Lay down. Are you ok?"

Rei felt a strong hand gently guide him back down onto the bed. "I, hurt…Kai…"

"Stay there. I'll be right back, don't move." Kai quickly left the room and went downstairs into the kitchen and got some children's ibuprofen, applesauce, and a bowl. He put the applesauce on the counter next to the bowl, crushed three tablets into tiny little pieces and put them into the bowl. Then he put some applesauce into a bowl and got a spoon, starting to mix the contents together. He got back up to the room and saw Rei sitting up slightly in bed. He handed the bowl to Rei.

"What is this?"

"It's applesauce. Eat it, it will make you feel better."

Rei was confused. "How will eating _applesauce_ make me feel better?"

"It's kinda 'special applesauce', eat it."

Rei's child-like mind thought around that concept before his face split into a wide grin.

"Thanks Kai."

"No problem."

Rei started to eat while Kai went into the washroom for a quick shower. Kai came out and changed into loose black sleep pants and was heading to his bed when he noticed Rei had stopped eating a while ago.

"Rei, are you done?"

He looked into the bowl and saw over half of the mixture still there.

"I'm…tired. I can't…finish it."

Kai looked at the neko for a second and saw how tired he looked. His busted lip was turning purple; his eyes had dulled, and had light circles under them. Kai sat on Rei's bed, took the bowl from the raven-haired boy, setting it on his own lap. He scooped up some applesauce into the small spoon and lifted it up to Rei's mouth.

"Here. Open up."

Rei opened his eyes halfway for a second in confusion and then did as he was told. For about five minutes, Kai fed Rei and watched as the neko tiredly ate his food. After he had finished, Kai took the bowl downstairs then came back to the room and found Rei with his eyes closed, but he knew that the Kitten wasn't asleep yet. Walking across the room, Kai got into his bed and turned his back to Rei, facing the door. 

"Kai?"

He turned and looked over the covers to see Rei leaning next to his bed.

"Yeah, Rei?"

"Are you mad at me anymore?"

"Rei, I never was mad at you."

"Oh."

Kai turned and shut his eyes once more, silently telling Rei to return to his own bed.

"Kai?"

'Well, silent treatment doesn't work.' Turning, he looked at Rei again.

"What?"

"Um…would it be ok…if, can I…uh…" Kai smiled slightly when he saw Rei shift on his feet nervously.

"Rei, do you want to sleep with me tonight?"

Rei's eyes lit up. "Can I?"

"Fine."

He lifted the covers and Rei slowly crawled into them, snuggling up to Kai's warmth. Rei let out another yawn and two minutes later, Kai heard even breathing and a slight purring coming from the little neko-jin.

"Goodnight Kitten."

* * *

**A/N:** Again, I am so sorry about the delay. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it. As always, please review and tell me what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **Don't own, I wish I did though, then you would see A LOT of YAOI!!

**A/N: **Sorry for not updating sooner. My stepfather gave me my stuff back, but the next day I got in trouble for getting bad grades in Government so he grounded me from the computer…luckily I got it back yesterday so I thought I would give you people an update, if you still want to read it that is…(hopefully)

* * *

_Previously on Chibis!…_

"_Um…would it be ok…if, can I…uh…" Kai smiled slightly when he saw Rei shift on his feet nervously._

"_Rei, do you want to sleep with me tonight?"_

_Rei's eyes lit up. "Can I?"_

"_Fine."_

_He lifted the covers and Rei slowly crawled into them, snuggling up to Kai's warmth. Rei let out another yawn and two minutes later, Kai heard even breathing and a slight purring coming from the little neko-jin._

"_Goodnight Kitten."_

* * *

Chapter 6…

In the morning, Kai woke up to movement on his bed. Looking down, he found Rei trying to escape from Kai's hold on him.

"What are you doing?"

Rei looked up and saw Kai staring at him and blushed slightly.

"Sorry Kai, I was trying not to wake you. But…since you are up, what are we doing today?"

"I don't know about you but I'm meeting Tala and the others today. And no Rei, you can't come with me, sorry."

Rei looked a little put out but then brightened up a bit and smiled.

"Ok Kai, will you tell Bryan 'hi' for me? Please?"

Kai watched him for a minute. "So, are you OK with Bryan now?"

"Yea!! Me and him are friends, he made that kid leave me alone."

"Rei, what happened last night? Why didn't you come home sooner? You know that you aren't supposed to be out this late, now more than ever."

Kai knew about the fight, but he wanted to hear about it from Rei. The neko-jin looked away from the Russian and all of a sudden found the floor very interesting.

"Rei."

"I went to the park to think. It was getting dark and I started to come back, but that kid stopped me."

"How big was the kid?" Kai interrupted.

Rei looked at him confused, then shrugged and answered anyway. "Not too much bigger than me…maybe about 8 years old or something."

Kai nodded and Rei continued his story. "He asked me why I was on his slide and where I thought I was going…"

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that I was going home and that the slide wasn't his, it was for everyone. I started to walk away when he put his hand on my shoulder and told me that I wasn't going anywhere…he called me a midget and it made me mad. I said that I was leaving and I called him 'fat boy'. The hand on my shoulder got tighter and I felt myself getting turned around. Before I knew what was happening, he punched me and I fell to the ground."

Kai was chuckling lightly at the name calling, but got serious when he heard the last part of Rei's explanation.

"But how did you get scratched up so bad? I personally know that you could have beaten that kid easy, even if you are a chibi right now."

Rei puffed up a little at that comment.

"Of course I could have taken him!! Even though I am a _chibi_, as you put it…it was a pretty good fight, until the stupid kit tripped me and before I could get back up, he dived onto me, and his elbow got slammed onto my chest. It felt like all my breath was ripped out of me…after that I was just too tired to fight back. That's when Bryan and Tala showed up."

"Gotcha…by the way how's the lip?"

"It's fine, maybe the applesauce really did help."

Kai smirked at Rei's comment. "Well, you're with Tyson and Max today. Good luck."

"Bye Kai…"

Kai left and Rei went downstairs to eat breakfast with Tyson and Max. "Hey little man, want some cereal?"

"Yes, please."

Rei climbed onto one of the stools by the island. "Tyson, what are we gonna do today? Kai's not here…"

"Cheer up buddy, I was thinking that we'd go fishing, what do you guys think? Sound good?"

"YEAH!" the two chibis cheered.

"OK, let's get ready then."

* * *

Kai walked into the café and saw the four teenagers sitting in a booth, alone in the back, away from everyone else. He went to them and grabbed a chair from one of the deserted table and sat down by the Blitzkrieg Boyz wordlessly.

"Hey Kai, long time no see. How's the Kitten?" Tala asked.

"Sore, but better. He's says hi to everyone." Kai looked at Bryan while saying this as if to make sure Bryan would get it. He did and smiled slightly.

"What do you guys wanna do? — I'm bored!!" Ian complained loudly, stressing the last word.

"How about we just walk around, we'll end up somewhere."

They all nodded in agreement and left the café to walk around the town.

* * *

Tyson and the two boys got to the river and started looking for the perfect spot.

"Guys, over here."

Tyson called to the little ones pointing to a place near the shore with logs to sit on and trees looming over head creating perfect shade.

"Cool, Tyson, this spot looks great!" Max said, sitting beside Tyson on one of the logs while Rei positioned himself under a huge tree that was nearby their spot where Tyson could still see him.

"I'm gonna take a little nap." Rei said, lying on the grass underneath the tree.

"Well Maxy, do you wanna get started?"

The little blonde's eyes lit up as he turned from looking at the stream to looking to Tyson.

"Yeah! Let's do it!"

The two sat on a log, facing the stream, got their hooks baited and started fishing.

* * *

Kai and the others ended up at the same park where Tala, Bryan, and Rei had the run-in with the bully the previous night. Kai sat on top of the monkey bars while Bryan sat on the merry-go-round, Tala was sitting on the slide, Spencer was leaning against the plastic dome for little kids, and Ian stationed himself on one of the many swings. All of them just sat in silence until Bryan decided to break it.

"I wonder if things would've been different…"

"If what was different? …Bry?"

Tala and the others waited for a moment for a reply but figured they weren't going to get any from the Falcon, when he finally spoke.

"I wonder if things would've been different if Boris was never around. - Would we be different? Would we still be friends?"

The gang looked around at each other before Tala answered his questions.

"Of course we would still be friends…Ok, so Boris was the one who introduced us, but we would have met each other sooner or later anyway. I mean, yea, we might have been a little different than we are now, but we all love to beyblade, and if nothing else, that would have brought us all together eventually."

"What made you ask that Bryan?" Ian asked curiously.

"It was something Rei said to me yesterday. He actually thought I hated him and apologized to _me_ for what I did to him! He thought that he must have upset me for me to do what I did at finals…" Bryan looked down after what he said and stayed quiet until Spencer spoke.

"Kai's Kitty can get to anybody. With those wide eyes and that innocent face, there is something about him that makes me want to protect him."

They all nodded in agreement and then laughed when Kai caught the meaning of Spencer's words.

"What?! Spencer, you've got to be kidding. Rei's not my 'kitty'!"

"Then why are you blushing?" Ian said smugly.

"I'm not."

"Sure Kai, whatever you say."

Then the shrimp of the group sang out loud enough for everyone in the park to hear.

"Kai and Rei; sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-"

"Don't even finish that sentence." Kai said in a calm, deadly voice. Knowing that tone of voice, Ian shut up instantly and hid behind Spencer; but stuck his tongue out at Kai when he thought the other Russian wasn't looking. Kai gave him the famous Hiwatari death glare; Ian squeaked and hid behind Spencer again causing every one to laugh.

* * *

After an hour of fishing, they had run out of bait. Tyson had caught five fish, Max had caught seven, and Rei had caught one, seeing as how he woke up 15 minutes ago.

"Guys, I am going to the shop and get some more bait, you guys stay here and behave. I'll be back in 5 to 10 minutes, tops."

"It was fun hanging out here today, wasn't it Max? I think so."

"Yeah, I love fishing, even though it is boring. I like it when we catch the fi-Whoa!!"

Max was jerked up from his seat and having trouble controlling his rod.

"Max! Let go of it- you're gonna fall in!" Rei shouted out in panic. Max was right at the ending of the bank. One more step and he'd be in the river.

"No way…Rei! This one's…huge!! Tyson's going to love…it. Don't worry…I'll be…fi-AAHH!"

The blonde cried as he was effortlessly thrown into the river. The strong current was easily pushing Max's small body downstream.

"Max!! I'm coming!!" Rei yelled as he ran along the side after the blonde. He saw a tree limb lying limply off of its tree trunk, crossing into the river, almost making a bridge to the other side. Rei sped up passing his friend and started to climb up the tree, reaching the limb, he climbed on, going towards the river and his distressed friend. Reaching a point to where he could reach Max, he flipped himself over the limb, holding on with his legs. Max was coming closer and Rei knew that he had to time this just right if he wanted to catch his friend.

"Max, get ready to grab my hands!" Max nodded slightly making sure he didn't go underwater in the process.

'Get ready to grab Max…ok…' "NOW!!"

Two pairs of hands went out towards the other; the pale hand grabbing onto the tan hand tightly. Even though they caught each other, Rei couldn't pull Max and himself up much, being the lighter of the two, now especially since Max's clothes were soaked, making it harder for Rei to keep his hold of the limb, with the extra weight.

"Kami, that was close Rei!!"

Unable to answer his friend, Rei only nodded, trying to concentrate and breathe so that he wouldn't fall. Max noticed Rei's face turn a little redder and his face paled.

'I'm too heavy for him! He's gonna fall too, if he tries to help me!' Max thought.

"Rei, I'm too heavy! Let go!" Max hand slackened letting Rei have the chance to let go, only to have the tan hand grasp his hand even tighter. He looked up into the red and slightly angry and desperate face of his friend.

"Rei…?"

"Don't you…dare let…go of me, Max…!! I'll get you…out!…I promise!! Please!"

Max saw the determination on Rei's face, but he wouldn't let his friend be sacrificed for him…he wasn't worth it! Rei seemed to have figured out what Max was thinking because his grip got tighter if that was even possible and he said through clenched teeth.

"Max…if you…let go, then, I'll let go…too!!"

Tyson came to the spot with more bait in hand and he was just about to yell his arrival when silence met up with him. 'Where did they go?' Tyson looked around and started walking around when he saw Max's abandoned pole wedged in between two rocks in the river. 'No!'

"Max! Rei! Answer me!"

He went in the direction of where he found the pole and as he went further down the bank, his eyes got wider and his breath caught in his throat. There, in the distance were his two little kids; Max in the river hanging onto Rei who was upside down, hanging dangerously from a tree branch. He started running towards them when he tripped over a root, embedded in the ground, falling with a 'thud'.

"Hey, Max…look! It's…Tyson!" Rei said quickly as he saw the blunette running towards them. 'I hope he gets here in time…'

Max looked around and spotted Tyson speeding towards them. "I hope he'll make it."

"Yea…me, too."

"Rei, are you ok?"

Rei only nodded; he was getting tired fast and didn't know how much longer he could hold onto the both of them. His legs were screaming at him, and his arms felt like they were going to pull apart. He almost wanted to cry out of frustration because he couldn't do more to help himself or his friend.

Max saw the neko-jin's face strain. "Just a little bit longer, hang on Rei."

"Yea…I got…ya, Maxy…no worries."

All of a sudden they heard a dull 'thud'. Looking up the saw Tyson, facedown on the ground. Very faintly, Max could hear a muffled cry; he looked up and saw Rei's face, red and tear-streaks on his cheeks.

"Max, I don't think…I can hold on…uh…much longer!! You're…hands, are slipping!!"

Max looked pleadingly at Tyson still on the ground, slowly getting up. 'C'mon Tyson! Me and Rei need your help!'

'Man, my arms feel like they are on fire! — No! Not now, my legs are slipping!!'

"Max, I'm…so sorry!…Max!" Rei's legs were ripped harshly from the limb, getting scraped in the process, both quickly falling into the river.

"AAHHH!!"

Tyson was getting up when he heard the yell. He looked up in time to see the boys fall into the water. "Max, Rei. Hold on guys, I'm coming!" Tyson yelled, sprinting to cut off the boys as they went downriver.

"Max, where are you?! MAX!" Rei looked around quickly, his eyes finally landing on his friend. Max had his eyes closed and he started to go under. "No!" Rei swam over to his friend, against the current, his sore muscles screaming at him to stop. When he finally reached Max, he wrapped his arm over the blonde's shoulder to his stomach (like a seat belt) and leaned the blond onto himself and tried to swim back to the bank. The exhausted neko-jin was only half way there when he saw him. Tyson was already in the water, and swimming madly towards them, reaching the two in record time. "Tyson…help Max!"

Tyson grabbed the closed eyed blond and turned to the panting neko-jin. "Get on!" Rei looked at him for a quick second, then shook his head as best as he could, his energy almost completely drained. "N-No…Max needs y-your help!"

"So do you, get on!! Now Rei!"

Rei hesitated again and was about to argue when Tyson got impatient and grabbed Rei's wrist and flung him clumsily on his back beside Max. "Hang on!" Rei gripped Tyson's shirt and kept a hold on Max so he wouldn't slip off.

Once they got back to the shore, Rei rolled off of Tyson's back, landing unceremoniously on the ground, his chest drastically rising and falling rapidly. Tyson gently laid Max on the ground. "Max, wake up. C'mon Maxy!"

"Ty-Tyson, I think…he swallowed…water!"

The blunette paled and immediately started pushing on Max's chest. "C'mon…breathe Max!" After three attempts, Max started coughing up the blue liquid and Tyson helped him turn over so he wouldn't choke on it.

"Max! Are you…ok? I am soo…sorry! Max."

Max smiled over at the neko-jin weakly. "I'm ok, Rei…"

"What happened?! Why did you two leave when I specifically told you to stay?! How did you end up in the river?" Tyson exploded. The two chibis looked at each other nervously and timidly looked up at Tyson, who seemed pretty huge to the two cowering kids.

"It's kind of a long story, Tyson…"

"Trust me, Rei. We've got plenty of time."

"Well, when you left, Max caught this huge fish…"

"…and I couldn't pull it up and I fell into the river. Rei ran after me and got on a tree…"

"…I grabbed him, we saw you, then my legs went out and we both fell in…"

"That's when you got to us, I guess, seeing as how I don't remember." Max finished with a smile as Rei nodded.

Tyson pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Kai's gonna kill me when he finds out."

The two kids looked scared beyond reason.

"K-Kai?!"

"Why does Kai need to know? I mean, nothing bad happened! Can't this just be a secret, you know, between the three of us?"

"I am afraid not Rei, what if either or both of you get really sick? What if he finds the wet clothes?"

They both shook their heads vigorously.

"We won't get sick- And we can dry the clothes before Kai gets back!"

Tyson actually considered this for a moment and looked at the two in front of him. He dismissed the idea when his gaze landed on Rei though.

"What if Kai asks you Rei? No offense or anything, but you are a terrible liar."

Rei was about to argue back until his mind registered what Tyson said. "Fair enough…"

Then at that exact moment, Max sneezed twice.

"Oh yeah…I'm dead." Tyson said exasperatedly. "Well, we better get home so we can change, Kai would be so pissed if we all got sick."

"Pissed…?" Rei's curiousness got to him and he cocked his head to the side.

"Shoot! Rei, you can't say that! Kai will get mad!"

"What does it mean? Why would Kai get mad?" Rei's childish mind wanted to know.

"It means to be really angry. Kay would get mad because it isn't a very nice thing to say."

"Then why did you say it?"

"Uh…I forgot that I can't say it either. You don't want Kai to be mad at you, do you?"

"No!!" Rei shook his head fast, but stopped and winced when he got dizzy.

"Then you can't say it. Promise?"

"I promise!"

"Uh…T-Tyson? C-can we go b-b-back? I'm really col-ld…"

Tyson looked at the boys and saw Max shivering and teeth chattering, Rei was also shivering, and he was cold himself.

"Yeah, let's go back."

When they got back Kai wasn't home yet so Max and Rei went to their rooms to take showers while Tyson put the wet clothes into the washer 'n' dryer. Max came down after he had finished, dressed in a little kids Yu-Gi-Oh shirt that had Seto Kaiba on it and light tan sweat pants that they had gotten from Tyson's Grandpa. They had also gotten some left over clothes from Hiro's son, Maddex, who was now too big and old for them, when Tyson's Grandpa called Hiro and told him about it. His expression was shocked at first but he soon got used to having two little kids running around in the house again.

Max sat down next to Tyson on the couch and watched TV with him in silence for a little while.

"Thanks fro helping me, Tyson. I owe you big time."

"Don't worry Maxy, you and Rei are safe with me here. I'll always be here for you two. Did you happen to thank Rei for getting you too? Without his help, I don't know if you would be here right now."

"I did, but he still thinks it was his fault for making me fall back into the river, because he wasn't strong enough to hold us. I keep trying to cheer him up, but he still feels really bad about it. Even if he doesn't say it out loud, I can still see it in his eyes."

"Don't worry too much Max, Rei might be sulking now, but he's very strong, both in mind and body and when he figures that out I think he'll be fine."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Thanks Tyson, I hope you're right."

Max hugged the blunette beyblader and Tyson returned it. Soon after Rei came down the stairs with a Naruto shirt that had Gaara on it and black sweats with a towel hanging loosely over his shoulders and his shorter hair in a little braid.

"I came down to say G'night…I'm beat…"

The other two said G'night and he slowly went back upstairs, too tired to shut the door completely.

An hour later Kai returned and went into the living room to find Tyson on the couch watching TV, Max snuggled into him, sleeping deeply. Kai sat down on a chair next to Tyson.

"What's up with him?" He asked, nodding his head to Max.

"Oh, he's just tired. Him and Rei had some _issues_ when we were fishing today."

Kai arched his eyebrows slightly. "What kind of _issues_?"

Tyson explained to Kai what he saw and what the boys had told him. Kai was silent through the whole story, eyes closed and arms crossed.

"When we were on the bank again, and I told them we would have to tell you…man, did they freak out!" Tyson laughed lightly, making sure not to wake the sleeping blond.

Kai opened his eyes and turned to the blunette. "Even Rei?"

"Rei? Oh, he freaked out more than anyone! Haha…he tried to think of ways to get out of telling you, actually he was really worried about you knowing, I wonder why…"

Kai looked around the room noticing for the first time, the little neko wasn't in there. "Where is he?"

"Who, Rei? He went to bed more than an hour ago. He was exhausted after swimming in the river, he was really brave out there Kai, you should've seen him. He could barely keep his head above the water but he still tried to help Max first…scared the hell outta me when they both fell in."

Kai nodded. "Take Max to bed and get some rest yourself, you look like shit."

"Oh thanks Kai." Tyson said, his words oozing sarcasm. He picked up Max and carried him up the stairs, turning to the left to his and Max's room as Kai went to his and Rei's room on the right.

Kai walked quietly in the room and went into the bathroom to change into some sleep clothes. He came out in a white tank and loose black sweat pants that hung on his hips. He started towards his bed, but thought better of it. The slate haired captain knew he shouldn't wake Rei up and just let him sleep, but Kai wanted to know something. He went next to the mini Chinese blader and put a hand on the sleeping child's shoulder and shook him gently.

"Rei…hey Rei, wake up."

The little neko turned a little waking from his sleep. He looked around confusedly, wondering where he was until realization came to him when his eyes landed on Kai.

"Kai? What time is it? Is it morning-what's wrong?"

Kai smiled down at the neko-jin. "Calm down Rei, it's almost 9pm. Everything is fine, I heard you and Max got yourselves in deep water, quite literally."

Rei looked away from his captain and messed with his thin bed sheets. "Oh…"

Kai frowned and sat beside Rei on the bed, looking down at the curled up child.

"Why didn't you want to tell me? Tyson said you tried to come up with ideas so that I wouldn't find out…why didn't you want me to know?"

Rei sat up and moved closer to Kai. "I didn't want you to know because I didn't want you to think that I was weak…"

The slate haired blader looked at the ebony haired child in surprise. "Weak? Why would I ever think that you're weak? Rei, you are one of the strongest people I know."

Rei hesitated and then leaned against the older teenager's shoulder.

"Yeah, maybe when I was still me…not when I'm…'this'. My legs gave out when I was holding onto Max. I didn't want to but, my arms were hurting and my legs untangled…Kai, I let him fall. I promised him I wouldn't let go, but I did…how could I let him fall? I am horrible. That's why I didn't want you to find out…"

Rei wiped his teary eyes and went to move away from the Russian but Kai stopped him. The neko-jin looked up at his captain with teary, confused amber eyes that glowed in the darkness. Kai pulled him back and placed the boy in his lap and smirked as he laid his head into Rei's soft midnight hair.

"Rei, you are you. 'this' _IS_ you. You don't have to be a big kid to be strong. You proved that today; only a strong, brave person would have help his friend like you helped Max. As for dropping Max, you fell too, remember? You held on until you couldn't any more. That's not weak, not at all."

"But what if Tyson wasn't there to save us? What if Max had—you know, it would have been my fault!! What if-"

Rei was interrupted with his thoughts by two strong arms that wrapped around him in a tight hug that he greatly accepted.

"Don't worry about the what if's Rei, they'll just mess with your head. Max id fine, Tyson is fine. Nothing bad happened that couldn't be fixed. Everyone's fine, right Rei?"

Even though he was a kid, Rei still understood that Kai was asking him if he was ok subtlety. He smiled at the slate haired teenager.

"Yeah, everyone's ok."

Kai smiled back. "Good. Don't feel like you need to hide anything from me Rei, I want to know what's gong on. I might be able to help."

"Ok…um, can I go back to sleep now, I'm really tired."

"Yes." Kai looked at Rei a little longer and saw him shaking. "Are you cold?"

"Yea…I have been ever since being in the river. The shower didn't really help. Neither do my covers, but they help a little…"

"Why don't you sleep with me tonight Rei, I don't want you to get sick."

The tiny neko-jin nodded and snuggled into Kai's warmth as the Russian blader picked him up and walked over to his own bed. Putting Rei down, Kai retrieved the covers and placed them over the baby neko before climbing into the bed himself. He was about ready to go to sleep when he heard Rei sneeze. He put his arms around the younger boy; one over his shoulders, one around his little waist. Feeling the extra warmth, Rei got closer to Kai and his body heat.

"Thanks Kai…"

"Go to sleep Kitten."

"Kay…"

The Russian Captain smiled to himself when he heard light purring coming from the child in his arms. He let himself be lulled to sleep by the melodic sounds.

* * *

**A/N: **again, so sorry for the wait. I hope the extra length of this chapter will help you to forgive me…I don't really have a lot of time to update all the time, I already have the chapters written out, it is the typing that is difficult. But anyway, my hours at work are getting cut so hopefully I might have more time to update so until later, bye!!


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: ** wow, so sorry that I haven't been updating…my computer crashed. Right now my friend is letting me use her computer until she gets back from New Jersey next month, so I am trying to update as many of my stories as I can until then.

Thanks goes out to everyone who has stuck with me so far, I know how frustrating it is to wait for an update on a story and never get one. Again, sorry. Hopefully, the length of this chapter will make up for the wait.

**IMPORTANT!!- ** some people have told me that Rei and Max don't talk, think, or act much like children…thank you. I love when people tell me what's wrong. Now I am going to try and remedy the child behaviour.

So for the sake of this story, Rei and Max get turned into kids and as a side effect, their mind will slowly get in sync with the 'inner child' to fit the body. As time goes on they will act more child like.

Thanks again for everyone who reviewed!

* * *

_Previously on Chibis!..._

"_Why don't you sleep with me tonight Rei, I don't want you to get sick."_

_The tiny neko-jin nodded and snuggled into Kai's warmth as the Russian blader picked him up and walked over to his own bed. Putting Rei down, Kai retrieved the covers and placed them over the baby neko before climbing into the bed himself. He was about ready to go to sleep when he heard Rei sneeze. He put his arms around the younger boy; one over his shoulders, one around his little waist. Feeling the extra warmth, Rei got closer to Kai and his body heat._

"_Thanks Kai…"_

"_Go to sleep Kitten."_

"_Kay…"_

_The Russian Captain smiled to himself when he heard light purring coming from the child in his arms. He let himself be lulled to sleep by the melodic sounds._

**Chapter 7.**

_Beep, beep, beep, bee-_

Kai slammed his hand down on the annoying buzzer and pushed himself up onto the side of the bed, his feet hitting the cold hardwood floor. Looking to his alarm clock, Kai groaned quietly, 5:13 AM. Rubbing his hands tiredly across his face, the Russian captain got to his feet and made his way across the barely dark room and into the hall, going into the bathroom. Half an hour later the door opened revealing a freshly showered Kai, his blue shark-patterned war paint properly applied to his face. With a sigh, he started for his room.

"Rei, it's time to get up." Kai said in a loud tone as he opened the door. The lump of covers moved slightly but then stilled. Figuring he could give the kid a couple more minutes, Kai left the room and started the coffee in the kitchen. With the coffee slowly brewing, Kai went up the stairs to wake the remaining of his team.

Kai knocked on the door loudly to Tyson and Max's room, waiting for the usual groan of Max and the door to open. Strangely though, he didn't hear Tyson's rumbling snores through the door like he often did. What was even stranger though was that it was Tyson who had opened the door this morning.

"Tyson?"

"Kai, I think Max got sick from the lake yesterday."

Kai pushed past the younger boy, who grunted in response to the shove. The Russian sat on the side of the bed and put his hand on Max's warm head, feeling the sick heat under his fingertips.

"He's hot; I think he's got a fever." Tyson supplied. Kai turned to him and rolled his eyes, making sure the other boy saw the gesture.

"Thank you Captain Obvious. Ok, I'll take Rei with me and go to the store to get something for Max. You stay and watch him."

"Rei? Why are you taking him with you?" Tyson asked.

"That way he won't get sick like Max, idiot. One sick kid is hard enough, we really don't need two." Kai explained, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was starting to feel a headache coming on. Something told him today would be a long day.

Before Tyson could say anything else, Kai walked out of the room and started toward his own. Opening the door and walking into the room Kai was met with the same scene he had left earlier. Walking over to the bed, Kai saw Rei huddled underneath all of his sheets, comforter, and a blanket off of his (Rei's) bed, his black, unruly hair barely visible. (Remember, Rei slept in Kai's bed last night.)

The smirk that was playing on Kai's face slipped as a sense of foreboding washed over him just as he heard Rei fall into a dry, scratchy coughing fit. The slate haired kneeled to the side of the bed and patted the bundle of blankets, slowly pulling Rei up to sit in the bed to get more air.

After regaining his breath, Rei turned to Kai, still half asleep. Pawing his eyes tiredly, he asked, "Is it morning already?" his voice was a little rough.

"Yea, it's about 6:30. C'mon, get up; you're coming with me to the store." Kai said as he went to the dresser they shared and opened it, looking at the contents. '_Rei and Max are gonna need more clothes if they stay like this for much longer.'_ Kai thought as he pulled one of the very few outfits from the drawer. He turned back to the bed and noticed that Rei was still in the bed, his little hands keeping the huge blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

Kai walked over to the child with the clothes waiting for Rei to stand up and let Kai dress him as they had done for the past two days. When the neko didn't move, Kai sighed.

"Rei, c'mon, we need to get going." Instead of listening to Kai, the mini neko-jin kept sat looking into space when he felt a large tickle in his throat. He swallowed, only to find his throat was dry, making the tickle become worse. He heard Kai growl somewhere above him and felt himself being lifted from his nest of blankets. All of a sudden the tickle in his throat became an irritant throb in his throat and he was submerged into another coughing fit, grabbing onto Kai's arm like a lifeline.

Irritated with the lack of response from Rei, Kai growled and picked up the baby neko, intending to dress the child himself. He stopped, however, when Rei started coughing hard, his small body jerking slightly at the force. Kai felt the headache coming back and pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, pushing the headache to the back of his mind.

Sitting on the bed, the slate haired teen pulled Rei into his lap, rubbing his back until he was calm again. He wanted to apologize to the neko. Wait, why did he feel like he needed to apologize? He didn't do anything wrong, it was an accident. Besides, if he had done the same to Tyson, Kai was 100 positive that he would have sniggered and then left the room without a problem. But doing it to Rei was different; it was his Rei…._his_ Rei? What was going on with him!? All Kai knew was that he was attracted to Rei, well Big Rei. This little Chibi Rei had his heart too, but in a different way. Kai wanted to protect this Chibi until they could get his body back, along with Max.

The thought of Max brought Kai back to the present and found a comfortable weight lying against his chest. One of his hands went around the kid and pulled him in tighter, while the other hand reached up and started running through very soft, black hair.

"Kai?"

"Hmm."

"Hurts…"

Kai stopped his movements and looked down at Rei, who was leaning back against him tiredly.

"What hurts?"

When Rei gave no reply, Kai grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up gently, looking into the now standing Neko-jin's eyes, noting that they were a shade or two darker.

"Rei, you need to tell me what hurts so that I can fix it, ok?" Rei gave a reluctant nod and then pointed to his head and then reached down and pointed to his stomach.

"Here…" he said quietly. Kai nodded, also noticing for the first time how flushed Rei's cheeks were against his lighter tanned skin that was starting to look paler.

Getting up without a word, Kai gathered Rei into his arms and started towards Tyson and Max's room. He smiled when Rei snuggled into the warmth of his arms. The Russian Captain got to the other boys' door and flung it open, revealing Tyson sitting on the end of his bed, looking at Max, who was in the middle of the blunette's bed.

Tyson looked to the door and saw the cute image of Kai holding Rei, who looked on the verge of falling asleep, snuggled in his arms before him. The blunette stood up and looked at Kai expectantly. When Kai arched an eyebrow, Tyson gave him a confused look.

"Did you get anything?" He asked.

Kai gave the boy and incredulous look.

"Did I get anything, stupid, I didn't even leave yet. Here." Handing off Rei, who fell limply against Tyson, Kai turned to the door.

"Wait Kai, I thought you were gonna take Rei with you."

Looking over his shoulder, Kai explained. "He's staying with you and Max, he's sick, too." With no other words exchanged, Kai left the room, then the house, and started going the three blocks to the store.

**(With Tyson)**

Tyson put Rei down gently on the bed next to Max and started pacing the room.

'_Oh man, what do I know about sick kids? Nothing!_ _I just hope that they both stay sleeping until Kai gets back.-'_ his thoughts were brought to a halt as Max decided that was the best time to wake up and start coughing, loud enough to wake up Rei, who moaned.

Tyson walked to Max, pulling him up and rubbing his back, helping the tiny blond to get more air. After Max stopped shaking and got his regular breathing back, for the most part, he fell heavily back on the bed, and promptly fell back asleep. Tyson didn't have as much luck with Rei. Looking over to the neko-jin, Tyson saw that he had gotten up and was kneeling on the bed, looking around him for something. Tyson got his answer as to what the mini ebony haired boy was looking for as he rasped out, "Kai?"

As soon as he got the word out, Rei started leaning dangerously to the side and Tyson bolted to him, catching the little chibi just as he was starting to fall over the bed. As Rei looked at Tyson, the blunette saw tears in his eyes as he spoke. "Hurts…"

"What hurts Rei?"

Remembering what Kai told him earlier, Rei pointed to his stomach, just as his skin got paler.

"Tummy…I don't feel good." Before Tyson could do anything about it, Rei turned slightly and threw up, covering himself and some of Tyson with the vomit. Tyson picked him up and headed for the bathroom with a backwards glance at Max, who was now out cold. Disregarding the vomit that was between them, Tyson pulled Rei tighter against him as Rei started crying, his face red and started choking out words of apology and getting stuck on his saliva.

"Sorry…Ty- cough …I am- cough, cough -I'm…sorry." Rei said, brokenly. Tyson rubbed his back as he kept walking to the bathroom.

"It's okay Rei, really. It's ok. Shh, you're ok. We will just clean up a bit and everything will be fine." Tyson said softly, soothing the distraught child. He felt really bad for the small boys, and wanted Kai to hurry up so that he could help.

**(With Kai)**

Getting to the store and going in, Kai realized that he had no idea what he was looking for. Looking around, Kai found an elderly woman stocking a shelf full of cereal slowly. Figuring she would probably be the best help to him, he went to the woman, making sure he didn't startle her.

"Excuse me, ma'am." He said quietly and politely.

She turned to him and her face spread into a warm smile. "Can I help you, dear?"

"I need some medicine for little kids." He said.

The woman nodded in understanding and gestured her hands toward him as she left her stocking for later. "Follow me please."

Getting to the medicine aisle, Kai got a wave of de'ja vu as he was aware of the woman's eyes on him that he didn't know what he was looking for. The woman's voice broke through his thoughts.

"What kind of medicine do you need?"

"I don't know."

"…" with the lack of response, Kai looked back to the woman and found her studying him closely. He decided to elaborate.

"I need medicine for two little boys, they got sick from falling in a lake yesterday, they both have fevers, but I don't know what else…a cough too, I guess." Kai surprised himself with the amount of knowledge that he gave to someone he just met but he needed the medicine for Rei and Max, so right now, he could care less.

"They fell in a lake?" receiving a nod from the teenager before her, the lady nodded and started pulling various boxes from the shelves. After pausing for a moment, she nodded again and put all of the boxes in the boy's arms. At the surprised noise the boy made, she chuckled.

"Being a mother and a grandmother myself, I have a feeling that they most likely have colds, but it's better to be safe rather than sorry, especially when dealing with small children. What you have in your hands are liquid medicines for colds, flu's, a thermometer to measure their fevers, and other medicines, I got you some children's Tylenol too, just in case." The woman said with a cheery smile.

Only following a small part of that, Kai shook his head a little and looked at the woman, thanked her, and went to the checkout.

**(With Tyson)**

Entering the bathroom, Tyson set Rei on the counter and went to the cabinet located on the far wall. He opened the cabinet door and grabbed a couple of washcloths and a towel. Going to a lower cabinet that was to the left of Rei, Tyson got out a large basin, set it next to Rei, and filled it with warm water. After that he went to the shower and got some soap. Putting the soap under water, Tyson shifted the soap around in his hands a couple of times, making the water mix with the soap, creating bubbles. Next, Tyson went to the sink and filled it half way with just water. The blunette took two washcloths from his little pile and put one in the water and one in the soapy water, Rei watched him quietly as he did all of this, wondering what Tyson was doing.

Finally getting all of that done, Tyson looked at Rei, while Rei looked back, somewhat confused.

"You wait here, I have to check on Max and then I'll be back, Ok?" Rei looked into Tyson's eyes and when he was sure his friend would come back for him, Rei nodded mutely.

Tyson nodded and started for the door when a thought flitted across his mind that stopped him in his tracks. He back tracked, picked Rei up off of the counter and gently set him on the floor. "Ok, stay here, I'll be right back."

When Tyson was gone, Rei pawed at his eyes, feeling very tired. Not wanting to stand on the cold, hard wood flooring with his bare feet, Rei slowly walked over to the small rug in front of the shower/tub and sat down on the plushy rug, leaning against the bath. As Rei waited in that short time for Tyson to return, his eyes felt heavy until he lowered his eyelids, relieving some of the pressure behind his eyes. Within seconds he was asleep.

After leaving Rei in the bathroom to check up on their other mini sick blader, Tyson was perfectly happy to see that the only movement Max had done was shifting his position in the bed, still sleeping peacefully.

The blunette walked over to the blond boy and put his hand on Max's forehead, frowning at the heat that was still there, if not a bit higher. Hoping Kai would get back soon, Tyson knew that the best thing he could do right now was clean Rei up, put him back in bed, and keep them comfortable.

Taking one more look at his friend, Tyson quietly tip-towed across their room and opened up his closet, getting out a new clean shirt, putting it on before slipping out of the room.

Tyson was half way to the bathroom went he backtracked and went into Kai and Rei's room going to get a clean outfit for Rei to wear. Not finding anymore sleep clothes out of the few outfits there for the kid, Tyson grabbed one of Kai's old shirts out of the Russian's open drawer. He figured the Sourpuss wouldn't mind his shirt being used if it was Rei wearing it.

With Kai's old shirt for Rei in hand, Tyson entered the bathroom to find Rei asleep on the floor. With a small smile on his face, Tyson walked to Rei and sat on his hunches when he reached the small child. The blunette reached out and ran his hand up and down on Rei's arm, shaking him slightly as he did so.

"Rei"

"…hmm…ngh…"

"C'mon buddy, you need to get up. You're gonna make yourself more sick being on the cold floor."

Rei lifted his head and opened his eyes slightly. Squatting in front of him was a blue blob figure. Rei squinted his eyes a bit, and the blob turned into a blurry version of his friend.

"…Tyson?"

"Yea, it's me buddy. Come here, once we get you cleaned up I'll put you back in bed."

"Is Maxy ok?"

"Yea, he's sleeping right now. Lift your arms for me."

Rei did as he was told and Tyson lifted him from the floor and placed him on the counter once more. While he was gone the water had gotten a little too cold so Tyson had to refill both the basin and the sink again.

"Ty, I'm tired…" Rei said with a slight whine as he gave a pout. Tyson gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I know Rei, just raise your arms again for a second, Ok?" as Rei lifted his arms, Tyson carefully bunched up the soiled shirt and lifted it over Rei's head, trying to let minimal amounts of the vomit fall out of the clothing. Dumping it to the side, he worked on Rei's pyjama pants that had some of the substance stuck on them.

'_Good thing Rei's hair shrunk when he did. Yuk.' _ Tyson thought as he pulled up the neko's chin-length hair up into a small ponytail. Luckily none of the vomit from the shirt had fallen into Rei's hair, he would have a fit.

Rei shivered as his warm skin came in contact with the cold morning air. Still just in boxers sitting on the counter, Rei was getting very upset, very quickly.

"Tyson, I wanna go to bed!" Rei whined, tears gathering in his eyes, his frustration building. He rubbed his eyes hard, feeling anger towards Tyson who was keeping him from sleep.

Not noticing the change in attitude, Tyson continued trying to get clean.

"Just a minute Rei, I need to get you cleaned up." He began, grabbing the rag from the sink, wringing it out, and started cleaning Rei's cheek, mouth, and neck.

"NO!! I wanna…I'm sleepy…" Rei started to whimper, after his outburst, rubbing his eyes harder, irritating them.

"Rei! Calm down."

Tyson turned quickly at the familiar voice and found Kai standing in the door way, arms crossed on his chest. His image was ruined however, when Tyson saw the bag hanging off of his captain's arm.

"Tyson, why is Rei on the counter, in his underwear?"

"He got sick after you left. I was starting to clean him up when you got here. What all did you get?" Tyson asked, eyeing the grocery bag.

Picking out two long boxes, one thin and the other stocky, Kai offered the bag to Tyson. "Don't ask. Here, take this and help Max. I'll get Rei."

Grabbing the sack from the other teenager, Tyson nodded and started leaving after giving Kai the shirt he was going to put on Rei. Kai made a funny noise and Tyson turned around to see the Russian sporting an upraised eyebrow wanting an explanation.

"Rei didn't have anymore sleep clothes. I figured you wouldn't care if he wore an old one." Tyson said simply, shrugging his shoulders. Kai seemed to accept the answer because he just turned to Rei letting Tyson go see Max.

**(With Kai)**

Going over to the upset neko-jin, Kai crouched so that he was lower than Rei's eyelevel. Looking up at Rei, he got the neko's attention by gently cupping his chin. Rei's eyes shifted down onto his face and he brightened up a little.

"Kai, you came back."

"Of course I came back, I stay here. Why did you yell at Tyson, he didn't do anything wrong." Kai asked.

Rei pulled away from Kai's gaze and answered him, not looking into the crimson eyes.

"I didn't mean to, I'm tired…I just wanna go to sleep!" Rei said, starting to get upset again as his hands reached up unintentionally going to rub at his sore eyes when Kai's larger hands stopped his.

"Don't do that, you're gonna make them hurt. Just be still for a little while longer and I will let you go to sleep, I need to clean you up first."

Red, irritated eyes looked at him hopefully. "You promise?"

Kai smiled sadly at the pitiful look. "I promise."

Kai quickly grabbed the rag from the sink and wrung out any excess water before wiping it gently over Rei's face, neck, chest, and arms, making sure to get all of the vomit off of the small child's body. Next Kai grabbed the rag from the soapy water and did the same process.

After all of the nasty substance had been disposed of and wiped off, Kai grabbed a clean washcloth and ran some warm water from the sink on it and wiped Rei down one last time to get the soap off of him.

Grabbing the towel that was sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, Kai wrapped the huge towel around Rei, covering every part of the neko-jin.

Rei held onto the towel firmly as he watched Kai throw the washcloths in the laundry basket, drain all of the water out of the sink, and then dump out the water from the basin into the sink. After all that was done, Kai put the basin to the side to be washed out later.

Kai grabbed the towel and after Rei had let his grip of the makeshift blanket go; the Russian dried off the boy quickly, but gently and set the towel on the floor when he was done.

"Kai…I'm cold…" Rei couldn't help but whine. He was tired and didn't feel good, and no one seemed to be listening to him.

"Stop whining Rei, we're almost done." Kai said not looking at the neko-jin. He was getting everything cleaned up and bent down to get the shirt when he heard a sniff. Looking at the kid before him, Kai felt like something just kicked him in the stomach; Rei was rubbing his eyes fast now, trying to catch the tears that were coming down his cheeks.

"Hey, what's wrong? We're almost done." Kai said softly, putting his hand on Rei's arm. Getting upset, Rei chocked out a response as he started to cough.

"I just wanna cough wanna go to sl- cough -sleep, b-b-but nobody's list- cough, cough listening to…to me!!" Rei cried, digging at his eyes now, trying to curl into a ball, but Kai was stopping him from doing so.

'_Man, when he's a kid and tired he gets cranky! Jeez!' _ Kai thought exasperated. Gathering Rei's hands into his own, he searched for Rei's eye contact. Once getting it he started talking while grabbing his old shirt with one hand.

"Rei, you need to calm down ok? Me and Tyson are listening to you. We had to put all of this stuff up before we could leave. I just have to put this shirt on you and you can go to bed, alright. Do you want to put it on yourself?" Kai asked gently, offering up the clothing.

Rei thought about it for a second before he closed his eyes and shook his head 'no'.

"…Too tired," he whispered.

Kai nodded mutely and he rolled up the old shirt in his hands, placing it over Rei's head and letting it fall around him. Once he found Rei's arms in the shirt that was swimming on him and pulled them through the right holes, Kai picked up Rei, who snuggled into his warmth immediately and promptly fell asleep. Fixing Rei into a more comfortable position in his arms, Kai turned and pocketed the two boxes he had kept with him.

He walked to the door and with one last look behind him, Kai turned off the light and walked to Tyson's room, with Rei sleeping soundly, small black haired head laying on his shoulder.

**(With Tyson)**

Coming into the room, Tyson went to Max, who was still sleeping. That changed, however, when Tyson sat down beside Max on the edge of the bed. The mini blond moved his head towards Tyson and groaned, his voice scratchy.

"Max…hey, open your eyes for me buddy. I wanna see those royal blues." Tyson said softly. Those said eyes opened slightly, going back under small, red eyelids in seconds.

"Aww, c'mon Maxy, don't be like that. Open your eyes."

Max did as the familiar voice told him and slowly opened his eyes. The light in the room hurt his eyes too much so he clamped them shut again.

"Max, what's wrong?"

Hearing Tyson's voice, Max shifted toward the sound a little and rubbed his sore eyes.

"Hurts…"

'_Oh man, not you too!' _ Tyson thought desperately as he recalled what happened after Rei had uttered those words. He really didn't want to be picking up any more vomit for a while.

"Uh, w-what hurts, Max?" Tyson said hesitantly, shifting away from the little blond a bit, anticipating the sprays of puke.

Max, instead of upchucking, pointed to the ceiling. "Hurts."

Confused for a second, Tyson finally realized that Max meant the lights and shut them off, letting only the sun coming through the window be the only light source.

"Is that any better?"

Max just nodded and slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times but keeping them open this time.

"How do you feel buddy?" Tyson said as he scooted back over to the blond.

"By throat hurts and by nose tickles," he said through a stuffed up nose.

Grabbing a Kleenex from its box, Tyson placed it on Max's nose. "Ok, blow."

Max tried and blew his nose hard, but the only thing that did was make his ears stuff up and his eyes water. He kept trying until it made him start coughing. Tyson pulled the tissue away from his friend and sighed. Looking into the bag, Tyson pulled out a narrow box and walked to the window to see the back of the box. After reading the directions on how to use it, Tyson went back over to the blonde's bed and opened the box, a thermometer dropped into his hand.

"Hey Maxy, can you turn your head for a sec, I gotta get your temp." Max nodded and then silently did as he was told. Tyson brought the device to Max's ear and placed it in his small ear and saw Max flinch.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?"

Max coughed and then cleared his throat, his voice was still nasally, "Doh, it's cold. Surprised be."

"Sorry." He repeated and when there were little _beeps_ , Tyson pulled it out and tried to read the numbers but couldn't, even with the sun's rays. "Max, I need to turn the lights on again, ok."

"Kay."

Tyson turned the switch and read the tiny digital letters. 101.8. Crap. Even with the little knowledge of taking care of a sick kid, Tyson knew that it was not good for a kid to have a high fever.

Searching through the bag again, Tyson found a medicine that would help reduce a fever and help fight colds. '_Hope this works,_ ' Tyson thought as he opened the medicine box, took out a bottle and after reading the directions, poured some of the medicine into a little cup.

"You like cherries, right Max?" getting a confused glance and nod in response, Tyson offered the little cup to the blond.

Max took the cup and brought it to his lips, his other hand plugging his nose, even though he couldn't smell anything anyway. Taking a huge gulp, Max's eyes shot open wide and he shoved the cup away from himself as fast as possible and made a gagging noise.

"That was derrible!!" he cried as his face set into a grimace.

"Sorry, it said that it tasted like cherries." Tyson said with a goofy grin on his face. Max was unamused.

"They have never had cherries den." Max deadpanned.

Tyson was going to say something else when their bedroom door opened and Kai came walking in with a sleeping Rei in his hold.

"You finally got him to calm down." Tyson observed as Kai gently laid Rei in Max's unoccupied bed.

"Yea, he was so tired that he was being difficult and cranky." Kai said softly.

"Rei?" Max asked, looking over Tyson to his friend. Tyson turned to him and pushed him down gently onto the bed. Max looked at the blunette questioningly.

"He's fine. He got sick from the lake, too," Tyson explained, knowing his unasked question.

"Oh," Max said as he watched Kai pull a box from his cargo pocket. Opening it up, Max noticed it was the same thing that Tyson had used on his ear. Tyson noticed too.

"You bought two?"

"Yea, I figured it would be better having one for each of them, that way we don't have to chance them getting even sicker or something, this is easier." Kai said as he read the back of the box.

As he put the object into Rei's ear, he saw Rei flinch but the neko stayed sleeping, and after a few seconds the beeper went off and Kai pulled the thermometer out and read the digits. Closing his eyes for a moment, Kai turned to Tyson.

"You took Max's temp…" Kai's statement was more like a question, which Tyson answered.

"Yea, 101.8. How about Rei's?"

"102.3," Kai exhaled. Yea today was going to be a long day.

TBC…

**A/N:** again sorry for the lateness of this chapter but I hope the length of this chapter helps. Please review!! I will try to get the new chapter up faster.

Next chapter: Kai and Tyson take the two boys shopping!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade; I am just playing with the characters.

**A/N:** hey guys, I'm back. After reading my reviews and talking with some people I have decided to make another little filler chapter about the boys being sick. Thanks for reviewing, I hope you like this chapter!

* * *

_Previously on Chibis!..._

_As he put the object into Rei's ear, he saw Rei flinch but the neko stayed sleeping, and after a few seconds the beeper went off and Kai pulled the thermometer out and read the digits. Closing his eyes for a moment, Kai turned to Tyson._

"_You took Max's temp…" Kai's statement was more like a question, which Tyson answered._

"_Yea, 101.8. How about Rei's?"_

"_102.3," Kai exhaled. Yea today was going to be a long day._

**Chapter 8.**

"Tyson, give me the cough medicine." Kai said, holding up Rei who had woken up in a coughing fit.

"Here, I'm going to go get some water maybe that will help." Tyson said, rushing out of the room after giving Kai the medicine.

"Rei?" Max called sadly, crawling out of his covers. He got off of his bed, walked over to the little coughing neko and started climbing onto the bed, when a large arm cut him off. He looked up at Kai uncertainly.

"He's fine Max. I just don't want either of you any sicker than you are now. Get back in bed and lay down okay?" Kai said, still rubbing Rei's back to soothe the boy.

"He's okay? He's not gonna die?" Max asked wanting to be sure, Rei looked pretty red in the face right now.

Despite himself, Kai smirked and chuckled briefly. "No Max, Rei isn't dying. He's just got something caught in his throat."

Max's eyes got wider and he frantically jumped up and down, grasping Kai's forearm. "He's got something in his throat?! Get it out! Get it out!! He could choke, Kai, you gotta do something!!" Max exclaimed, starting to cough himself.

With one more squeeze on Rei's shoulder, Kai placed both of his hands on Max's shoulders and shook him softly once. "Max, calm down. It's just an expression, there's nothing really stuck in his throat."

Before Max could reply, Tyson entered into the doorway.

"Max, why aren't you in bed?" not waiting for the blond to explain, Tyson handed Kai the glass of water and picked up Max, smiling as the small boy turned his head and snuggled into Tyson's neck.

"Kai says there's something caught in Rei's throat, but nothing really is. …is there Tyson?" Max asked quietly, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

Tyson looked at Kai who merely shrugged and turned his attention back to Rei, who was starting to calm down. The blunette rubbed Max's back softly and carried the blond back to his bed, sitting on the mattress with Max on his lap.

"No Max, he doesn't have anything caught in his throat. It's just an expression." Tyson said, tickling the blond's small side. Max giggled and leaned back against the warmth holding him.

"Good, that's what Kai said, but I wanted to be sure."

Just then, Kai saw glassy amber eyes crack open slightly. "Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked softly, momentarily forgetting the other two that were in the room.

Rei cleared his throat slightly before talking. "Hurts.."

Kai heard a noise behind him, be he ignored Tyson. "What hurts?"

"My head…and my tummy."

After another sound was ushered, Kai turned to face the blunette, glaring slightly. "Knock it off, Tyson."

"Sorry." Tyson's cheeks colored slightly.

Rolling his eyes, Kai turned back to the little neko. "Listen Rei, do you think you're going to throw up?"

The ebony child stared at Kai for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I feel funny."

"Funny how?"

Rei thought a bit and then replied. "Not happy funny…weird funny."

Kai was starting to speak but stopped suddenly when Rei grabbed the Russian's hand with his smaller ones and pressed them onto his chest. The little neko looked back up at the Russian, fear shining through amber orbs; his breath starting to pick up.

Kai didn't like finding out what Rei was talking about. The little boy's heart was beating fast, and started beating more rapidly as Rei's worry and panic took over. Much too fast for a little heart to handle.

Kai grabbed the cough medicine, poured some of the red liquid into the cup and put it up to Rei's lips.

"Drink this; it'll make you feel better. Just calm down, Rei, you're ok."

With trust in his eyes, Rei took the medicine and laid down. He closed his eyes and reached beside him, grabbing around for a while, until his eyes opened to reveal confusion and then sadness.

"What's wrong?"

The child neko looked up at Kai, "I want Kougar. He's not here."

"Kougar?" Tyson asked confused.

Kai got off the bed and started for the door. "It's the name Rei picked for his stuffed tiger. I'll get it." Without another word, he was gone.

"Max?"

"He fell asleep Rei, the cough medicine made him tired." Tyson explained.

"Oh, I'm sleepy." Rei said in a small voice, rubbing his eye.

"The medicine works fast. Lay down, ok?"

Rei did as he was told, but when Kai didn't return right away, Rei started to get anxious. Tyson noticed.

"What's up Rei?"

"Kai's gone. I want Kai." Sensing more tears, Tyson tried to help.

"He went to get your tiger, remember? He'll be right back."

"He's not leaving?"

"…No, he lives here buddy, he's not going anywhere." Tyson could have sworn he heard Rei say, 'good', but didn't dwell on it.

A minute later Kai came back with Rei's tiger in hand. He handed it to the black haired boy.

"Thanks Kai!" Rei said sincerely as he hugged the tiger to him tightly.

"Ok, lay down Rei. That medicine's going to help you stop feeling funny."

Rei looked up at the Russian Captain, "Will you lay with me, Kai?"

"Why?" Kai was curious.

Taking it the wrong way, Rei's eyes filled with tears and he slowly lay down. "Tyson's lying with Maxy…" he mumbled softly as he rolled over, his back facing the others.

Kai heard what Rei said though, and sat down on the bed, pulling Rei to him. Running his hands through Rei's hair, he smirked when he started to hear baby purrs. "Just close your eyes and sleep, Rei, I will be here when you wake up."

* * *

The two boys slept all afternoon, Max only waking up to go to the bathroom. By night, both fevers were gone and the boys were lying together on the couch watching _Hercules_. The Blitzkrieg Boyz gave them a lot of kids' movies as a joke, but the joke turned on them when Max and Rei couldn't get enough of them.

For the most part the boys were fine; Max was walking around and playing some, he was just missing some of his normal energy. Rei was still trying to shake off the effects of the medicine, something having to do with his neko-jin blood, so he was still sluggish and tired, but by morning he should be ok.

Kai came into the living room, looking over at Tyson and Max playing with _Matchbox cars_ as Rei lay on the couch, dozing. Sitting on the opposite end of the couch, Kai wasn't very surprised when he felt a body slip into his lap. Putting his fingers through the ebony strands, Kai focused on Tyson.

"I think we should go shopping for more clothes tomorrow. We're pretty limited, even if we do laundry every two days."

"Sure. We need to go shopping for food anyway. Oh, Gramps is leaving the day after tomorrow for that Kendo tournament in Australia. We will be on our own with them for a while, I don't exactly know when he's coming back."

"Does Kenney have anything about turning them back?"

"Not yet."

"Has he done anything yet?"

"Well, Kai, it's hard for him to do tests with the boys half across the world, remember, he's with in the US for another month."

Kai turned his attention to the sleeping child in his arms, "Whatever. When he comes back, he better have something."

"Tyson, I'm tired…" Tyson looked up and saw his little blond friend rubbing his eyes, leaning heavily on the couch.

"'Kay Buddy, let's get you in bed."

Tyson grabbed Max around his middle and pulled him up, the blonde's head landing tiredly on his head.

Turning, Tyson gave a little wave to Kai as he started up the stairs. "See ya tomorrow Kai." Knowing he wouldn't get an answer, Tyson walked into his room and set the blond down on the bed, tucking him in, thankful that they made Rei and Max get into their PJs earlier. Shutting off the light he went to his bed and got some much needed rest.

Kai stayed on the couch for only a little bit longer, spacing out until a couch from Rei made him get back to reality. Making sure Rei was secure; Kai got off the couch, grabbed Kougar and walked his way to his own room. He shut off the light and placed Rei in his bed. Putting the stuffed tiger next to him, Kai watched as a sleeping Rei shuffled around until he found Kougar and stuffed the tiger halfway underneath him, promptly falling into a deep sleep. Kai quickly changed into sweats and went to his bed, getting under the warm covers and turned to watch his sleeping neko-jin.

* * *

**A/N:** wow, I'm very sorry for the wait, here's the next chapter, shorter I know, but I didn't have much creative thought go into this chapter, I'll try harder next chapter. Please review and tell me what you think!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Beyblade

**A/N: **ok, really sorry about not updating in like forever. My computer crashed and so I am using my sister's right now, only she has no idea…so right now I'm trying to update my stories without her finding out so I don't know when I will be able to update again, hopefully soon.

This chapter is dedicated to Emoru and a friend who inspired me to get in gear and update this so I hope that you like it! Thanks goes out for everyone who has stuck with my story, despite my long updates. Thanks you guys!!!

I'm not too happy with this chapter but it'll do. I have future chapters written but I have some chapters to finish so I can tie the others into this story. Oh, and all mistakes are mine.

~neko-jin72

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_Previously on Chibis!..._

_Tyson grabbed Max around his middle and pulled him up, the blonde's head landing tiredly on his head._

_Turning, Tyson gave a little wave to Kai as he started up the stairs. "See ya tomorrow Kai." Knowing he wouldn't get an answer, Tyson walked into his room and set the blond down on the bed, tucking him in, thankful that they made Rei and Max get into their PJs earlier. Shutting off the light he went to his bed and got some much needed rest._

_Kai stayed on the couch for only a little bit longer, spacing out until a couch from Rei made him get back to reality. Making sure Rei was secure; Kai got off the couch, grabbed Kougar and walked his way to his own room. He shut off the light and placed Rei in his bed. Putting the stuffed tiger next to him, Kai watched as a sleeping Rei shuffled around until he found Kougar and stuffed the tiger halfway underneath him, promptly falling into a deep sleep. Kai quickly changed into sweats and went to his bed, getting under the warm covers and turned to watch his sleeping neko-jin._

* * *

**Chapter 9.**

Two days after the boys' fevers had broken, Tyson was at the airport saying goodbye to his Grandfather with the rest of the gang, Kai, Rei, and Max. Once Grandpa Granger's flight had left, Kai pulled out his cell phone and convinced Bryan and Tala to go shopping with him and Tyson for the boys. Plans were made and it was decided that Spencer and Ian would meet them later for lunch.

"Well, where do you think we should go first?" Tyson asked, scratching the back of his head.

All of the teenagers shrugged at once. The two boys were happily walking in front of them, skipping over certain places in the sidewalk that had cracks, giggling to themselves with their new game.

"I guess we should start with what you guys need most." Bryan said as he watched Max and Rei holding onto each others hands, helping each other over the bigger cracks and laughing.

Walking across the mall's parking lot, Tyson and Kai immediately grabbed onto their chibis' hands and carefully walked to the entrance of the three story building. The two boys didn't mind holding onto their teammates' hands when they saw all of the people going in and out of the building. Suddenly this trip didn't seem as much fun as it had a couple of minutes ago.

"The old man gave me some money so we could buy them some clothes; might as well start there." Kai said shrugging his shoulder, once they got inside.

Tyson stopped and looked at the Russian. "Gramps gave _you_ money?! Why didn't he give me any- I'm his real grandson!" he whined indignantly.

Kai rolled his eyes. "Hn…he probably didn't give you any because he knew you'd spend it on yourself. I just said that he gave me the money so we could spend it on them, remember?" Kai said, pointing to the boys, or rather where the boys had been a second ago.

"Uh, Kai?"

Kai turned to the redhead, "What?"

Tala pointed down and that was when the two-toned Russian found the two boys missing.

"Max!! Rei!!" Tyson called, anxiously.

'Dammit, we just walked in the freaking door… where are they?!' Kai thought angrily as the teens started looking around for their charges.

Looking around, Tala saw something. "Kai."

Bryan looked to where Tala was looking and pointed behind Kai's left shoulder. "There they are."

Kai and Tyson whirled around and found the boys looking into the mall's center fountain. The four guys started towards the boys. Kai paused for a moment before shouting.

"Maxwell Tate! Reimond Kon! You two had better get over here, RIGHT NOW!!"

Both boys jumped at the sudden yell, then ran over to their guides. Not even realizing they were in trouble, the two started talking happily to the four teens about the fountain.

Rei started, "Did you guys see the fountain? It's really big and people kept throwing money into it!" before Max finished for them. "I was gonna go in it, but Rei thought that we would get in trouble." He turned to his friend.

"Sometimes, you're such a scaredy cat."

Rei puffed out his cheeks at the taunt. "No I'm not."

"Yea huh."

"Nuh uh."

"Yea huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

The kids' fighting was drowned out by Kai's angry voice.

"What did you two think you were doing, running away from us like that? If we lose sight of you guys, we might not be able to find you again." He said bluntly.

Seeing the two chibis' faces change from happiness to sadness and then to frightened, Tyson stepped in before more could be said. "What Kai is trying to say is that we don't want you two leaving us to go out on your own. This is a big mall, boys, and it's dangerous to be on your own. We just don't want you to get lost." He elaborated.

Max turned to his best friend. "But you'll find us, right Tyson? You wouldn't leave us here, would you?"

The blunette smiled and picked up his little blond. "Of course I would never leave you, Max; you're my best friend."

Rei looked up at Max and Tyson, and then looked at Kai. He really wanted the Russian Captain to pick him up and comfort him, like Tyson was doing with Max. Shuffling closer to his target, Rei kept his vision on Kai until he heard Tala laugh.

"It looks like someone wants your attention Kai." The redhead teased.

The said Captain glanced down to see Rei so close to him that if he would have taken a step, he would have tripped over the kid.

Kai silently grabbed Rei's hand and started walking further into the mall with everyone else. Walking past a couple of stores, Tyson stopped short, almost bumping into Bryan. Grinning sheepishly at the irritated glare the taller Russian was giving him, Tyson was grateful that he was holding onto Max at that moment, knowing Bryan wouldn't hurt the little kid.

Pointing in front of him, he turned slightly to the others in the group.

"How about that store?"

Kai looked ahead and felt his left eye twitch. The store Tyson pointed out looked freakishly cheerful and very bright, almost painfully bright, with loud noises coming out of the door. The Russian Captain could just imagine the annoying fake smiles from the employees as they dealt with little bratty kids. If they hadn't needed the clothing, Kai would have just walked past the blunette, telling him he was an idiot.

Apparently, Tala had a similar idea when he started walking away from the group saying, "Don't be stupid. There is no way that I'm stepping foot in there."

Kai pushed past his teammate and started following Tala and Bryan, quickly putting distance between him and the store, Rei rushing to keep up with his long stride. Tyson caught up to them and started matching Kai's pace. "I really don't see the problem going to that store…" he muttered.

Realizing that Rei was having difficulty keeping up, Kai bent down and swung Rei onto his hip in one swift, gentle motion. As the baby neko placed his head on Kai's chest, the Russian Captain eyed his teammate. "Just let it go Tyson."

Getting on the escalator and getting off on the second floor, a store caught Tyson's eye again. "We could go there."

Looking to the right at where Tyson was pointing, Kai saw that the store wasn't that bad. No bright lights, no noisy kids; he was good. This store, _Later Dayz_, had to be better than that other one.

"Let's go in and see what they have." He said, steering the group into the store.

* * *

An hour and a half later and they were still in the same store with different stages of headaches, and found nothing but new information about their redheaded friend.

It seemed that Tala liked to go shopping for kids. They had just entered the store and had not even been there for fifteen minutes when Tala already had Bryan and himself holding so many cloths for the boys to try on that they almost couldn't see where they were going. Another challenge was discovered as Rei didn't want to try on anything, while Max wanted to try on everything.

Getting irritated, Kai grabbed an outfit from Tala's pile and crouched down next to Rei. "C'mon Buddy, you have to try something on. The sooner we find something, the sooner we can leave."

"Why can't we just leave? I don't need anymore clothes." Rei said stubbornly.

Kai sighed, "Yea, Rei, you do. You and Max go through clothes quicker than anyone I've ever seen. Please try it on."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why do I have to?"

"I asked first."

Kai knew what he had said was childish, but when Rei paused for a second before sighing, Kai couldn't help but mentally congratulate himself as Rei answered.

"I just don't want to. I wanna go home. Why do we have to do this?"

Ok, so maybe he didn't get the answer he was hoping for, but at least the Chinese boy was talking, he thought to himself.

"Because you and Max need more clothes; I just told you. Now, give me the real reason you don't want to do this." Kai said, knowing there was more to the story that Rei wasn't telling him.

"…The real reason?"

'Don't play dumb.' Kai thought. "Yes, the real reason."

"…I guess that I feel like since we're buying all of these kid's clothes, this is starting to feel more…real. I just feel like if we buy all this stuff than it's saying that me and Maxy are going to stay small. …Kai? Can I, uh, can I ask you something?" Rei asked timidly, keeping his focus on the floor.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well, it's hard to explain and kind of confusing; even for me. Um… do you notice that sometimes I'm myself and sometimes I'm me, but I'm not, 'me' at all?"

"What are you talking about Rei?"

Rei shook his head, "Never mind; don't worry about it Kai, it's nothing."

Rei started to turn but a large hand on his shoulder stopped him and turned him back around to face Kai.

"It's not 'nothing', Rei. I think I know what you mean but you have to give me an example or something."

"Um, well, do you remember the first day I threw up when Max and I were sick?" at Kai's nod, Rei continued. "Well, when we were in the bathroom, I kinda…uh-"

"Threw a fit." Kai supplied.

Rei blushed lightly. "Uh…yea. It's hard to explain but, it's like I could feel myself do that but it wasn't 'me' doing it."

"You lost me a bit kiddo."

"Well, I was tired and didn't feel good and overall it was a bad time for me. The thing is, if I were big still, I wouldn't have thrown a fit. It was something I would have done if I was actually a little child."

Kai stared at him for a bit before talking, "Are you trying to say that you think your emotions changed with your body too?"

Rei shrugged. "I guess; I dunno. All I know is that it was like I was in a movie kind of; I was watching myself do these things and act like a kid, but I couldn't control it."

Kai studied Rei's face for a moment and found a spark of molten gold around the pupil of the neko-jin's eyes that he hadn't noticed before, but after a minute, it had suddenly disappeared. Kai must've looked shocked or something because he felt Rei poke him in the shoulder and ask something.

"What?"

"I asked if you were ok. You were looking at me funny."

Seeing that the spark in Re's eyes didn't return and figuring that he wasn't talking to the same Rei as before, Kai shook his head, clearing his thoughts before presenting the clothes to the little boy.

"Kai?"

"I'm fine Rei, let's try these on, ok?"

"Do we have to?"

"Yes, why don't you want to?"

Rei was silent for a moment before he flashed Kai a smile. "Because I like _my_ clothes." Was his simple answer.

Kai snorted. "Well, if we get these, they will be your clothes, too."

Rei considered for a moment before agreeing, "OK."

Kai got the little boy into a fitting room before going to find the others to talk about what Rei had said.

* * *

The little neko was quicker than Kai had expected, so when Rei opened the door to show his clothes to the Russian, he was met by no one. Looking around and not finding anyone he recognized, Rei couldn't stop himself from getting a little panicked. Checking out his surroundings, his stomach lurched a bit when he realized that everything around him was bigger than him.

"Kai? Tyson?" Rei tried to call out, but his voice came out no louder than a whisper. He moved around the store, trying to find his friends, occasionally hiding under clothes racks from other adults and kids.

He saw bright red hair to his left and saw a man leaving the store. In his frightened state, he didn't even think before he started after the man.

"Tala, Wait!"

Rei left the store and went after him, but the man kept getting farther away from him with his longer legs. The store's alarms went off as Rei ran from the store and tried to catch up with his friend, tears gathering in his eyes.

"Please Tala, don't leave me behind!"

Suddenly, his arm was grabbed in a tight grip and he was yanked back.

"Hey, stop struggling brat!"

Rei ignored the big, unfamiliar man and tried to break free. When the redhead was getting even farther away from him, Rei screamed as loud as he could. "TALA!!"

* * *

Kai was just finishing up telling Tyson, Tala, and Bryan what Rei had told them when Max came skipping out to them. "Here Tyson, do they look ok?"

Tyson bent down and checked the clothes on their little blond. "Max, I told you to wait for me to get you from the dressing room."

Max rolled his eyes, making the three Russians laugh. "I did wait, for like 10 minutes! Besides, I saw that you guys were right here, so I came out."

"Well, they look fine. C'mon, let's go try on something else, but this time, I'll stay there where I can see you."

As Tyson walked back to the fitting rooms with Max, the three Russians headed back to the other changing rooms where Kai had left Rei.

"Alright Rei, you ready to come out?" going closer, Kai got a knot in his stomach when he saw the cubicle he had put Rei in was empty except for his hand-me-down clothes.

"Rei?" Kai called out louder.

"He's not running around naked, you don't think?"

Kai wanted to smack the redhead. "No, idiot, I had Rei try on some clothes. Where do you think he is?" he asked, looking around the fitting room area.

While the Russian teens were looking for him, Tyson and Max came up, carrying clothes, completely unaware of the situation. Max was the one to ask.

"What are you guys doing? Oh, where's Rei, I wanna show him my new clothes!" he said excitedly, not comprehending the serious faces of the older boys. Tyson caught it though.

"Guys, _what are_ you doing? Where is Rei?"

Tala answered, "We can't find him. Kai came to talk to us and when we came back, he was gone."

They were all silent until Max started to cry out, "Where's Rei?! I want Rei! How could you lose him Kai?!!"

The teens froze and slowly turned to Kai who had gone eerily silent. Tyson scooped up the crying Max and walked a couple feet away to try and calm the boy down.

* * *

"Max, it's not Kai's fault that Rei's gone. You shouldn't have said that, it was really mean."

The little blond rubbed his eyes and wiped his snotty nose on Tyson's shoulder.

"I didn't m-mean to be mean, I just wanna know w-where my friend is…" Max wiped his nose on Tyson's shirt again, before burying his face into the blunette's neck, silently crying.

"Thanks Max." Tyson said sarcastically before he continued. "I know you want to see Rei, we all want to make sure he's ok. But you wanna know who I think is taking Rei's absence the worst?"

Max just nodded his head, not saying anything.

"I think Kai is taking it the worst, because he is probably blaming himself right now."

Max looked up at Tyson after a moment, "Do you think I made it badder by saying that?"

Tyson shrugged, "I dunno Maxy. You'll have to ask him if it did or not. I just know that I would feel really awful if you were ever lost."

* * *

"Kai?"

"Not now Bryan…"

"Yes now, Phoenix. Stop feeling sorry for yourself."

Kai whirled around, eyes narrowed. "What did you say to me?"

Bryan's eyes matched Kai's. "You heard me. We need to find Rei, instead of wallowing in our own self pity." He gave the slate haired blader one last glance, before walking away from Kai and Tala.

The redhead tried to get Kai back to searching with him. "Don't worry about Bryan. He gets like that when he's worried about something."

Kai shook his head, "No, he's right. I was feeling sorry for myself when I should have been looking for Rei. I just…dammit, Tala, what if I'm not doing this right?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if Rei and Max do stay kids, what then? Me and Tyson can't raise them! Hell, Tyson's doing a better job of helping them and he can't even take care of himself half of the time." The Russian Captain took a deep breath before he turned to his friend.

"What if how I'm taking care of Rei and Max is actually hurting them? I mean, you have to admit- you, me, Bryan, Spencer, and even Ian; we're all pretty messed up. What if they get hurt because of me? Rei's already gotten lost; they both fell in a river and got sick, what's next?"

Tala put his hands on his childhood friend's shoulders and made sure they made eye contact. "What you are doing with those two is helping them cope and live with what has happened to them. You and, I hate to say it but, you and Tyson are doing a good job with them. Don't you see how Rei comes to you for almost everything? Max goes to you to make Tyson give him back his candy and always gets a laugh out of you chasing Tyson through the house."

Kai chuckled darkly, "Yeah, and now I just lost his best friend. Go me."

"That's what Bryan was talking about; c'mon, let's keep looking."

"_TALA!!"_

Tala whipped around, expecting to see the little neko-jin grinning up at him, but no one was there. He turned back to Kai, "You heard that too, right?"

"Yea."

* * *

The guard that had Rei had had enough of the kid's antics and roughly yanked him back again; this time getting a cry of pain out of the boy.

"Hey! Let go of him."

Rei turned his head around and started crying even more, this time in happiness.

Bryan was running towards them.

"He was trying to steal these clothes-"

When Bryan reached them, he bent down and picked Rei up, forcing the security guard to release his hold on the boy.

"Don't be ignorant; he's five years old." He turned to Rei and looked him over. "You ok?"

The ebony child nodded and put his head on the teen's shoulder, hiding his flushed, tear-streaked face in Bryan's neck.

The man puffed out his chest, "Well then, why did he run out of the store with merchandise he didn't pay for?" he asked smugly, figuring he had outsmarted the smart-assed punk.

Bryan glared hard at the mall cop, "Did you ask him before you started yanking him around?"

When the man deflated, Bryan had to roll his eyes. The teen turned to the boy who was clinging onto him for life.

"Rei, hey look at me," when two amber orbs looked at him, Bryan continued, "Why did you run out of the store? Everyone's looking for you. Kai's really worried."

Rei got a little mad when he heard that. "He-He-He's not wuh-worried about me! He left me whuh-when I tried the-these on! (cough) He doesn't wa-want me no more!" Rei gasped and coughed a bit when he started getting more upset.

Bryan wiped away Rei's tears with his thumb and made sure he had the little boy's attention. "He wants you Rei. He came to talk to us when you were changing and when we came to get you, you were already gone. Everyone is looking for you. Max is crying on Tyson's shoulder because we couldn't find you. Now, take a deep breath and tell me why you left."

Rei took a deep breath, helping him calm down a little before he started. "I came out to sh-show Kai my clothes like h-he told me to, but he wa-was gone. 'Member earlier when he told us not t-to get lost, bec-because you might not find us?"

Bryan nodded, so he continued, "Well I knew that T-Tyson would find Max, but no one said th-they'd find me, so I tried to g-get unlosted. That's when I saw Tala leave the store, so I ra-ran after him."

Bryan was silent for only a moment, "Uh, Rei…Tala never left the store."

Rei looked at his lilac haired friend in confusion.

"Y-Yea he did. I saw him."

"No Rei, you didn't."

"Yes I-I did! I followed him! – Look, he's r-right over there!"

The Russian turned around and saw who Rei was pointing at.

The boy did look enough like Tala from the back to easily confuse the 5 year old. There were only a couple of differences that Bryan could distinguish from the man and the real Tala. This boy had red hair but it was a little darker and Bryan could tell that his hair was dyed; though he had a feeling Rei wouldn't have known that. The next clue was that this boy was about as tall as himself; easily three inches taller than Tala, but to a 3 ½ foot child, every one was tall. The last thing was this kid had what looked like a flame tattoo above his right wrist. Rei should have picked up on that, but Bryan figured that he was probably too panicked to notice.

Bryan pointed out the differences and showed Rei the tattoo, convincing the little boy that Tala was in fact still in the store, searching for him.

"So Tala d-didn't come out?" Rei asked, making sure.

Bryan nodded. "No, he's still in the store. Rei, no matter what, we would not leave you behind. Alright, let's go tell them you're ok."

Gently running his fingers over Rei's closed eyes and hot cheeks, Bryan felt the small boy start to relax. Rei's breathing was starting to slow down and the Russian teen could tell he was about to fall asleep, when the stupid security guard decided to loudly state that, "No matter what his age is, stealing is wrong and what did he plan to do about it?"

Rei jumped at the sudden noise and owlishly looked around before laying his head back down in the crook of Bryan's neck, with a deep sigh. Bryan glared at the idiotic cop. "Well, since they fit him, obviously we are going to pay for them." He growled before turning around and walking back to the store, completely ignoring the cop's calls to come back.

* * *

"Hey, Kai?"

The said Russian turned around only to be attacked by a ball of blond.

"Wha-"

"KaiI'mreallysorryaboutsayingthattoyou!!!" Max said as he buried his in Kai's neck, hugging his teammate fiercely, and still mumbling apologies that no one could understand.

After a minute or two, Kai pulled the blond back slightly to look at the pitiful tear streaked face that was staring at him.

"Ok Max, now…what?"

Max sniffed a little before looking at Kai again, "I'm really sorry a-about saying that to you, you didn't d-deserve it and I made things even badder…I didn't mean to be mean, I j-just want Rei back. Please fo-forgive me, I'm sorry!"

Kai gave the mini blond a small smile and hugged the little boy, feeling a little bit better, even if he wouldn't admit it out loud. "I accept your apology Max. I should have kept a better eye on him. No matter what though, we will find him, I promise."

Max's face brightened and he daringly gave Kai another hug. "Ok."

"_Found him."_

Heads turned at the voice in the store's entrance.

Kai handed Max back to Tyson and they all met Bryan in the middle of the store. "Rei, where the hell were you?! We've all been worried sick about you, why did you run off?" Kai's voice was starting to border on the edge of hysterical and Rei's eyes started filling with tears again as he saw the worry obvious on Kai's face.

"Kai!" Rei leaned dangerously out of Bryan's arms and Kai took him from the taller Russian. Kai let out the breath he knew he was holding the whole time Rei was gone. Holding him tightly, Kai breathed in his little boy scent mixed with the scent of coconuts that Rei seemed to have, no matter what size he was.

"I didn't mean to leave! You left first! I followed Tala! Then I found Bryan- well, Bryan found me! And I almost got arrested!"

Kai looked up to Bryan, his confusion evident. The tallest Russian sighed and got Rei's attention. "Rei, why don't you go talk to Max, he's pretty upset."

Kai set the little Neko down, and made sure that he was with Tyson and Max before turning to Bryan. "Do you know what he was talking about?"

Bryan snorted and started to explain what had happened and told them about the other Tala while Rei saw his friend.

* * *

"Max, you ok?"

Bright sapphire eyes looked up from Tyson's shoulder and looked down, to find his lost friend smiling up at him. "Rei, you're back!!"

Wiggling his way out of Tyson's grasp, the little blond threw himself at the other kid and proceeded to hug him tightly, getting a squeak of protest when he tightened his hold even further.

"M-Max, too tight…ah…can't breathe!"

Max relinquished his hold and stepped back, rubbing his head in a very Tyson-like fashion. "Sorry, I just got scared that you weren't coming back," his expression turned dark, "Where were you, why did you go away?"

After getting out of the death-grip of his friend, Rei explained everything, the look-a-like Tala, the really mean mall cop, Bryan heroically saving him from the really mean mall cop, and finally coming back to the store.

"It was awesome, Maxy, you should have seen that guard's face; he had no idea who he was messing with!" Rei exclaimed excitedly.

"Well as cool as that seems Rei, you could have gotten hurt, or someone could have taken you. Next time, please wait for one of us to come get you." Tyson said, as he picked up the neko and placed the child on his knee, followed quickly by Max, who took the other knee.

Rei leaned into Tyson's side, appreciating the warmth that he was receiving. "I didn't mean to leave; it just happened. I'm sorry I made everybody worry about me."

Tyson hugged the boy and saw the other Russians start walking to them. "I know Buddy. We're just glad you're back with us."

"Ok, enough with this emotional stuff, how about we pay for this stuff, then meet Ian and Spencer and grab some lunch." Tala said, grabbing Rei from Tyson and putting the child on his hip, giving him a quick squeeze. "For what it's worth Kid, I'm glad you're back." He said quietly to the chibi as he walked to the checkout in the store.

Bryan scooped Max off of Tyson's other knee and placed the blond on his back, ignoring Tyson's calls and followed Tala, with Kai next to him. Max giggled at the piggy-back ride and placed his hands on Bryan's shoulders, making sure not to fall off.

Bryan started walking besides Tala and Max found it hilarious that he was taller than Rei and the same height as Tala, almost anyway. Wanting a piggy-back ride too, Rei looked up at Tala hopefully. The redhead got the message and flipped Rei around, landing the squealing child on his back with a soft 'thump'.

They paid for the clothes and Kai called Spencer, telling the other two Russians to meet them there for lunch, considering that they were already at the mall. After getting an affirmative from the tall blond, the group started heading for the food court in the mall that was back on the first floor.

TBC…

* * *

**A/N:** really sorry that it took so long to update. Hopefully this chapter will make up for it! Yea, if the ending is kinda weird, sorry. This chapter turned out completely not how I expected it would. All grammar and spelling mistakes are mine. Please review, just to tell me how I'm doing. I'm still not too sure where this story is going, I have some ideas, but a lot of them are pretty much just ideas.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Hey, neko-jin72 here. Oh man, you guys almost didn't get this chapter! I just finished moving from another town and settling in my new town. I was getting ready to put this chapter up, when I couldn't find it!! Something messed up with computer and so I had to get my old computer working (which is NOT an easy task, let me tell you!) well, once I got the junker working, I found out that my chapter was not on file, something happened to it. Finally I found a back-up for my back-up's back-up. Luckily, this one wasn't deleted. Man sometimes I hate my computer…

**IMPORTANT!!! A/N:** Hey, me again. Well, I was recently going over this story and I found that I really don't like the beginning chapters, or some of the later chapters. There is a lot of stuff that I was meaning to put in them but my typing skills were not as fast as my brain. I was wondering if you guys would mind or like it if I just 'tweaked' or fixed some things on my chapters, that way they could run more smoothly? I made a poll in my profile, please tell me either by messages, reviews, or that poll. I would really like to hear from you guys. Thanks for listening!

**Disclaimer: **neither beyblade, nor the characters of the show belong to me; I just like to play with them.

Here's the chapter you guys, enjoy!

_Previously on Chibis!..._

"_Ok, enough with this emotional stuff, how about we pay for this stuff, then meet Ian and Spencer and grab some lunch." Tala said, grabbing Rei from Tyson and putting the child on his hip, giving him a quick squeeze. "For what it's worth Kid, I'm glad you're back." He said quietly to the chibi as he walked to the checkout in the store._

_Bryan scooped Max off of Tyson's other knee and placed the blond on his back, ignoring Tyson's calls and followed Tala, with Kai next to him. Max giggled at the piggy-back ride and placed his hands on Bryan's shoulders, making sure not to fall off._

_Bryan started walking besides Tala and Max found it hilarious that he was taller than Rei and the same height as Tala, almost anyway. Wanting a piggy-back ride too, Rei looked up at Tala hopefully. The redhead got the message and flipped Rei around, landing the squealing child on his back with a soft 'thump'._

_They paid for the clothes and Kai called Spencer, telling the other two Russians to meet them there for lunch, considering that they were already at the mall. After getting an affirmative from the tall blond, the group started heading for the food court in the mall that was back on the first floor._

**Chapter 10.**

After meeting Spencer and Ian in the food court, the gang spent almost 15 minutes trying to decide where to eat. Being a relatively large mall, the food court had all kinds of places to choose from: Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Steak 'N Shake, Pizza Hut, Popeye's Chicken, Subway, and more. Really the major problem was Ian. He argued about all of the food choices, but when asked what he wanted to eat, he always replied with, "I don't know."

Max and Rei were getting hungry and started to get whiny. After five minutes of listening to Ian, Rei, and Max argue with each other, getting so loud that people were staring, the other teens got tired of waiting and just decided to eat at Panda Express.

"Aw, no-" Ian started.

"Shut up Runt. We're going to go eat there, so get over it." Bryan said.

"What's Panda Express?" Max asked, looking at Rei.

The Chinese boy shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, never heard of it."

"It's a Chinese restaurant. They have good food." Spencer told the boys.

Once the teens got a table and had Rei and Max both settled in a booster seat, Spencer volunteered to stay with the boys while the others got all of the food.

Coming back with the trays of food, Spencer got up out of the booth, and let Tyson slide in next to Max, followed by Ian before Spencer sat back down. On the opposite side of the table, Bryan sat next to the wall, facing Max, while sitting next to Rei. On the other side of Rei, Kai sat down and Tala sat next to him. After getting situated, the food was passed out and everyone started to dig in.

Getting Max to eat was easy enough; Tyson just made him take a bite of his fried rice, and the little blonde was hooked. Rei was another issue. Apparently once you've had authentic Chinese food, you're not too thrilled about having to settle on 'imitation food' as Rei called it. Rei turned out to be a picky eater as a child.

The ebony haired boy looked down sadly at his chow mein and orange chicken and then glanced up at Kai. Seeing that the Russian was looking at him, Rei tried to look pitiful as he asked, "Do I have to eat it?"

Kai sighed, "For the last time Rei, yes, you have to eat it, now take a bite."

Instead of listening, Rei just crossed his arms over his small chest, scowling at his Panda Bowl.

Swallowing his mouthful of Kung-Pao Chicken, Bryan turned to the sulking Neko-jin, "Why don't you want it, Rei?"

Looking up, Rei thought about his answer. When he couldn't come up with one, he shrugged and mumbled, "I just don't want it…"

"It's really good Rei, try it!" Max piped in before shoveling a mouthful of fried rice into his open mouth.

"I don't like it." Rei whined, slumping more into his seat.

Kai was getting more than a little agitated. "That's enough Rei. You either try it or I'll feed it to you myself."

Rei looked into the ruby eyes and saw that Kai wasn't kidding. Now he felt a little bad; he wasn't trying to make anyone mad, he just wanted something else, other than 'imitation' Chinese food. Seeing Kai start to get up, Rei quickly grabbed his chop sticks and picked up a piece of orange chicken. Taking a tiny bite, he found that it actually tasted okay…it wasn't real Chinese but he liked this chicken, it kinda reminded him of chicken fingers with sauce.

Kai felt a small smile creep onto his face when he watched Rei take a little taste of his chicken, before taking a bigger bite, until he was munching happily on his lunch.

Not paying much attention to the conversation, Ian didn't notice that Rei had started eating when he decided to speak up.

"Well, if the Munchkin isn't going to eat it, I'll just help myself." He said as he reached for Rei's bowl and snatched it from in front of the little boy.

Getting a drink, Rei watched as his food was stolen from him. He let out a high pitched squawk and instantly grabbed onto his bowl, trying to yank it back from Ian.

"HEY, THAT'S MINE!!" he yelled as Ian pulled the bowl towards him again, making Rei fling forward a little from the force.

"You didn't want it!" the small Russian growled.

"Yes I did! You stoled it!!" Rei screamed back, but he was losing the battle, and was beginning to be pulled out of his booster seat.

"Ian, let go!", "That's the Kid's food Runt!", "Ian, stop it!"

Spencer, Bryan, and Tala were all shouting at Ian, while Kai held onto Rei, making sure the Neko-jin wouldn't fall to the floor.

Ian tugged harder, ripping the bowl out of Rei's hands. It seemed he yanked a bit too hard however as some chow mein noodles flew at him, some hit his face while more of the food landed in his hair.

Every one in the small Panda Express was silent, watching the situation closely, not knowing what would happen next. Then Tala burst out laughing, pointing at Ian; watching as his teammate's face turned redder every passing moment. He only stopped laughing when the short Russian scooped up a handful of his Beijing Beef and threw it at his redheaded captain; the food landing on Tala's chin, slipping down to his lap.

Blinking a few times, registering what had just happened, the wolf blader grabbed some of his own Mandarin Chicken and smirked at the littlest Russian. "Don't throw food Ian, it's not very nice," he said, right before he flung his fistful at the boy.

Seeing the attack coming, Ian dodged to his right, slamming into Tyson, who then bumped into Max. Being the little guy that he was, Max fell out of his booster seat and slammed into the wall that he was sitting next to. The others stopped what they were doing at once as Tyson carefully took a bawling Max into his arms. Max had hit his head on the thick wall, and it had _hurt_. He didn't have time to be surprised as pain overtook his mind. Grabbing his head, Max wailed at the top of his lungs, his sobs only quieting after he felt warm arms envelop him and he heard Tyson's voice right above his left ear. Needing the comfort, Max snuggled deeper into Tyson's embrace and started fisting the bluenette's shirt in his small hands repeatedly as he sobbed. "Shh, it's ok now, you're fine."

Feeling the blonde's tremors begin to lessen and his cries start to tamper off after a while, Tyson softly kissed the blond on the head and rocked him a bit, rubbing his back slowly, "You're ok, Maxy, I've got you."

Kai got Rei back into his booster seat and was just about to yell at Ian for stealing Rei's food and hurting Max when an angry looking Chinese couple came to their table. The man spoke first in a heavy Chinese accent. "I am sorry, but you have disturbed our customers so I must insist you leave."

Apparently the elderly woman didn't agree with the man's tactics. She hit him in the arm and started yelling in Chinese at him. The man responded, which made the angry woman yell even louder. Rei, who was for some reason enjoying their fight, gasped and then covered his ears when the woman finished.

Kai silently watched and as the woman seemed to get angrier, he nudged Tala who got Bryan's attention. Kai pointed to the bags, then the exit. The two Russians got the hint and started getting ready to leave. Spencer watched the other three Russians get the bags for a second before helping.

They were about ready to get out of there, when suddenly the arguing had stopped. Glancing up, the teens had a good guess as to what had happened. The couple was looking down at a certain little Chinese boy who had his hands on his hips and a reprimanding look on his face. Kai looked up to the couple and saw that the man was smiling, trying not to laugh and the woman was red in the face, a glare set on the little boy.

Kai was about to pick Rei up and leave with the others, when the man bent down and asked something in Chinese. Rei nodded quickly and answered back in Chinese. What ever Rei said had made the man laugh out, while the woman's face darkened just before she shouted, "GET OUT!!!"

Not needing to be told twice, Kai grabbed Rei and followed Spencer, Bryan, Tala, and Ian as they walked quickly out of the food establishment, Tyson following with a sniffling Max cuddled in his arms.

They were at Tyson's Grandpa's car before the Russians and Tyson stopped their fast pace. As one, all of the teenagers turned to Ian and glared at the teen while Tyson pulled the now quiet Max closer to him.

Kai started first. "Why did you have to take Rei's lunch from him, huh? He was just starting to eat it!"

"He said he didn't want it." Ian shot back.

"He was eating it, you idiot! Now thanks to you and your food fight, we lost the rest of our lunch." Bryan grumbled.

"Yeah, way to go Shorty." Tala put his two-sense in.

Kai turned on the redhead. "This is your fault, too Tala. You're his captain."

Tala shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, I'm his captain, not his babysitter. He should know not to throw food."

"So should you Tala; you threw food as well." Spencer scolded.

"Eh, well…monkey see, monkey do." The redhead said, as if that explained everything.

When nothing else was said, Tyson turned to the boy in Kai's arms. "Rei, what did you say to that lady? She was pretty mad dude."

Rei looked at the bluenette, "That lady said a bad word. I said that she shouldn't say things like that. It's not nice and she could get a time out."

"What did that guy say?"

"Oh, he asked me if she should go in time-out and I just told him that that's what would happen to me. Then I asked him if she was going to get spanked. Time-outs aren't fun, but they sometimes hurt with a sore bottom." Rei said seriously.

Bryan pulled a face. "No wonder she wanted us out so bad."

During the conversation, Tyson noticed that Max had stopped being quiet and was starting to shift and make little noises. Moving so he could see the blond's face, Tyson saw that Max was getting a little agitated or uncomfortable.

"Max? You ok?"

The other teens turned to see the blond move, trying to nuzzle his face into the bluenette's shirt. Tala moved over to the two and pulled Max out a little, noticing the little boy was clenching his eyes shut.

"Hey, is something wrong with your eyes Max?" the redhead asked.

Without opening his eyes, Max nodded. "It's too bright. Hurts."

Looking at everyone else, Tala knew that it wasn't too bright for him or anyone else, something was up. "Anybody got a flashlight?"

Bryan reached into his pants pocket. "I got a keychain light."

"Perfect. Max, I need you to open your eyes for me."

At first the blond was complacent with the request but once that glow got by his eye, his instinct was to move away from the burning light. Feeling fingers hold his chin gently in place, he saw Tala run the flash light across his vision once again before the fingers let go and he could cuddle back into Tyson's shoulder.

"Well, his pupils were a little slow to react. I think he got a small concussion from the wall." Tala said, giving Bryan his light back.

"He did hit the wall pretty hard. Let's get back to my house." Tyson said, running his hands gently through Max's blond locks.

…..

When they pulled up to the dojo, everyone got out of the crammed SUV and went to the back to grab their bags. Tyson helped Rei get out and set him on the ground before reaching back in and taking Max out. He held the little blond close to him and started for the house, Rei walking beside him.

Tyson unlocked the door and walked into the living room, placing Max on the couch. The blond immediately laid down and was joined with Rei laying on the opposite side, yawning.

"How about I put in a movie for you guys to watch while me and the others get all of the bags from Gramps' car, sound good?"

He received two nods and looked at their movie selection. When Max and Rei had first turned into kids and the Blitzkrieg Boyz found out about it, they sent all sorts of kid movies and little kid's toys over as a kind of joke. The DVDs had ranged from _The Wiggles _and _Veggie tales_ to _Indiana Jones _and _Harry Potter. _It sort of back fired though, when Max and Rei couldn't get enough of the films. They loved watching the Disney movies the most out of all. Rei's favorite was the _Lion King_ but Max liked _Toy Story_ better. They also received puzzles, coloring books, and crayons that they loved to play with from time to time.

Tyson picked out a couple Disney DVDs and showed them to the boys. "Ok, you guys get to choose, what do you want to watch?"

Rei turned to Max, "You can pick Maxy. I don't care what we watch."

Max brightened a little. "OK, um…you wanna watch _AristaCats _Rei?"

"Sure. We wanna watch _AristaCats, _Tyson."

Nodding to the kids, Tyson opened the DVD case and inserted the disc into the PS2 console. He loaded it and once it started playing, he turned to the boys and put the controller on the coffee table.

"I'm going to go outside and help with the bags. Max I want you to just lay down and watch the movie ok? Rei, you should probably rest too, it's already been a long day. Do you guys want anything to drink?"

"No." they chorused, already mesmerized with the show.

Tyson headed outside again and reached the car just as the other teens were finishing up.

"Figures you'd skip out on helping us unload." Bryan scoffed.

Tyson glared up at the taller guy. "Actually I was in with Rei and Max, getting them to lay down for a bit. I was just coming out to help you guys."

Spencer grabbed the last of the bags. "Well, we're pretty much finished now."

The bluenette looked around. "Where's Kai? And Tala?"

"We were starting to get a bit hungry again, since we didn't get to finish lunch so Kai went inside to make something and Tala said something about getting the kid stuff put up." Bryan said, walking to the side door, off of the kitchen.

……………..

After their small second lunch, Ian left saying he was going for a walk, while Tala, Bryan, Spencer, and Kai were at the table playing Mahjong while Tyson cleaned the dishes.

Tyson was just finishing the dishes when they heard a yell and the sound of crying. Before they were out of their seats, Ian burst through the swinging door and stormed over to the kitchen table when Rei came in, holding hands with a crying Max.

Tyson quickly dried his hands and walked to the two boys. "What happened? Max, what's wrong?"

It was Ian who answered. "What happened?! I'll tell you what happened! He puked on me!!" the shortest Russian cried indignantly.

Too caught up with the upset boys, the Russians and Tyson took a look at Ian for the first time. By the looks of it, Max had pretty good aim. Ian's shirt, neck, and his right arm were completely covered in bile.

"I s-said I was so-sorry!" Max wailed. Tyson turned back to his best friend, caressing his warm, red cheek before picking him up. With a glare towards Ian, the bluenette was quick to reassure the child in his arms.

"I'm sure that Ian accepts your apology Max, it was just an accident. C'mon, let's get you cleaned up, ok."

"I'll help you." Spencer said quietly, getting up from his seat and following Tyson from the kitchen.

Bryan smirked down at his teammate, "So what happened again, Vomit-Boy?"

Ian threw his hands up in the air, unintentionally making some of the chunky substance fall onto the table and floor. No one was impressed.

Rei let out a high pitched "Eww!!" and Kai glared at the smaller teen. "Gross. Clean it up, now." His voice told Ian that he shouldn't argue.

Ian grabbed the rag that Tyson had used for the dishes and cleaned up his mess; put the rag on a paper towel, reminding himself to throw it in the dirty towel hamper later. He grabbed a new rag, ran it under water and started to clean the puke off himself.

While Ian was busy cleaning up, Bryan spoke, "ok I'm going to ask again, what happened Vomit-Boy?"

Making sure not to repeat his actions, Ian just glared and huffed out. "I dunno. One minute he's fine and the next, he's spewing all over me."

"**You're lying!!"**

Everyone looked at the small kid in the room. Rei's eyes had turned into narrow slits so small, you could barely see them. This little boy was mad.

"What are you talking about Rei?" Tala asked.

Rei blinked a few times before he focused on the three oldest teens in the room. He completely ignored Ian as he walked up to the table and grasped the edge with his tiny hands, his head barely showing over the wood table top.

"Ian's being a bad boy! He's lying!"

"Ok so, what happened Rei?" Kai asked.

"Me and Maxy were still watching AristaCats when he came into the room saying that he didn't want to watch this 'baby movie'. He told Maxy to scoot over so he could sit down. Max didn't feel good, so he stayed laying down and he picked Maxy up too fast and Maxy throwed up on him.. He deserved it!!" Rei exclaimed, making sure every time he was talking about Ian, he would accusingly point at him.

"Ok Rei, you need to calm down." Kai said, watching the little boy.

Rei had gotten his entire explanation out in two huge breaths and by the time he was finished, he was red in the face, trembling, and tears were starting to form in his eyes; most likely from frustration, anger, and tiredness.

Once Rei got his breathing under control, his fight and energy left him, making him an exhausted five year old boy. Blinking slowly, the little Neko-jin went around the table and placed his hand on Kai's upper thigh.

"Kai," Rei started, "Make Ian tell the truth." He whined, and then rubbed his eyes hard, another sign that said he was getting tired.

The Bladebreaker captain sighed before picking up his miniature sized teammate, feeling Rei's head immediately rest on his shoulder. Kai rubbed soothing circles on the small back, feeling all the tension in those tiny muscles relax as Rei slumped even further into Kai.

"Ian, go change, then get back here. We're going to talk." The two-toned blader said before leaving the kitchen, Rei already half asleep on his shoulder.

**XXXXX With Tyson and Spencer XXXXX**

Spencer got the bath water ready, while Tyson helped Max with his clothes. Most of the spew had gotten on Ian apparently because Max had barely any on him. After the crying had mostly stopped, Max was, to put it bluntly, a mess. His eyes were really red and puffy from his tears and he was getting grumpier by the minute; Tyson was surprised the blond was letting Spencer and himself help, but this was still Max after all, he probably needed the comfort and attention with the day he was having.

Spencer got off of his knees and started for the door. "The water's ready. I'm going to see if the couch or anything needs to be cleaned." Without waiting for a reply, the tall blond left without another word.

"Ok Buddy, let's get you in here and cleaned up." Tyson said, picking Max up by his armpits and depositing him gently into the warm water. Grabbing a washcloth, Tyson put it into the tub to gather water and started helping Max wash his body.

"I didn't mean to throw up on Ian, it just came out. I'm really, really sorry." Max said, his eyes starting to get wet from more tears.

"I know Max and so does Ian. Close your eyes and keep them closed." Tyson said and made sure the little blond's eyes were shut tight before he poured some water over the blond's hair. Once the blond locks were wet, Tyson squirted a little baby shampoo in his hand and rubbed it into Max's scalp gently.

The day after Rei and Max shrunk, a list was made and Tyson was forced to get everything that the kids needed that they didn't have at the dojo. Shampoo was one of the items. They had adult shampoo, but Tyson was told to get baby shampoo because it wouldn't sting Max and Rei's eyes if they got soap in them. Now Tyson was glad he got it after the first few times of helping the two boys, otherwise Max's and probably Rei's eyes would be shot right about now.

He got the hang of it however and now he could wash his charge's hair with minimal difficulty. He made sure that Max still had his eyes closed when he gathered more water in his cup and poured it over the blond's head, rinsing out all of the shampoo and repeating the process.

"Ok, you can open your eyes now."

Small blue eyes looked into brown. "Do you think Ian's still mad? I said I was sorry…"

Tyson stroked Max's now wet blond curls, amazed at how soft the little boy's locks were. "It's okay Max; everyone knows that you didn't do it on purpose. Accidents happen; you don't have to keep apologizing, you did nothing wrong."

"But I did! I threw up on him!!" Max said, a tear running down his splotched cheek.

"You did, but you didn't mean to. It just came out, remember." After this, Tyson was going to make sure Ian told Max that it was just an accident and he was forgiven.

"I guess…" Max said before he yawned.

"Well, you're nice and clean now, so how about we get you out of here." Tyson pulled the drain out and grabbed the towel from the counter, wrapping Max in the fabric and sat him on the toilet. He quickly dried him off and handed the blond his underwear and pajama pants, only having to help a bit on the night shirt.

"My eyes hurt…and so does my head." Max said, rubbing his red eyes. Tyson felt sympathetic towards his little friend. Max had a really bad day today; first getting upset about Rei missing, then the food fight which led to him meeting a very thick, unforgiving wall, and now throwing up on Ian. Personally Tyson thought it was a little funny, but he knew Max was still worrying about it. Really, Max just needed a little nap and Tyson was sure he would feel a little better once he woke up.

"I bet your eyes and head hurt, today was a little rough. Why don't me and you go into our room and just lay down in the dark, it will help your eyes." Tyson suggested. When he got a head nod from his best friend, he picked him up and opened the bathroom door, promising himself that he would come back later and clean up any messes he missed.

He got out into the hallway and almost ran into Kai holding a half-sleeping Rei in his arms.

"Tired?" Tyson asked his captain, gesturing towards the little Chinese boy.

"Upset." Kai answered

Tyson was a bit confused. Rei seemed okay when Tyson and Spencer left with Max.

"Why? What happened?"

Kai let out a breath and repositioned Rei, who was currently diving to the right. "Ian lied and Rei called him out on it."

"Lied about What?"

"Max."

Ok, now Tyson was a lot confused. He wasn't gone for even 20 minutes.

"Huh?"

Kai reached his door and stopped to look at the bluenette. "Look Tyson, I need to put Rei down before he falls. Just put Max to bed and come to the kitchen if you want to know."

"Uh, I told him that we would lay down together for a bit. His eyes and head are hurting." Tyson said. He wanted to know what was going on but Max needed him right now. Kai nodded at him and went into his and Rei's room, leaving Tyson along in the hallway with Max.

He looked down at his friend and saw that Max was keeping his eyes shut and clenching the bluenette's shirt in his small hands. "Max? You okay?"

"Eyes hurt Ty..."

"Oh yea, sorry Buddy. Our room's right here." Tyson opened the door and kept the light off as he walked into the dark room slowly, not wanting to hit anything, the only light coming from the window on the far side of the room. He walked a few more paces until his knees hit his bed and he held Max with one arm and pulled back his covers with the other. Gently setting down his blond friend, Tyson covered the little boy up and lay beside him. Not even a minute later, he heard little snores coming from beside him and he knew Max was going to be out for a while. After a while of just staring at the ceiling and listening to Max sleeping, Tyson grew more curious about the Ian situation from earlier. Getting up, the bluenette turned to face the little blond that was sleeping peacefully on the bed.

Tyson bent down and kissed the little boy's forehead. "Sleep well, Maxy."

**A/N:** And I think that I will leave the chapter right here, it's almost three in the morning and right now I'm super tired. Next up, the talk. It's weird…for some unknown reason; I can make Rei more child like than I can Max. Sometimes Rei is a bit whinier that I want him to be but that's just how my writing comes out sometimes, sorry if it bothers people.

Well, tell me what you think, I love to hear all your thoughts. I like all kinds of criticism, encouragement, etc.


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